BJP to focus on 96 constituencies it never won to achieve its Mission 200

Some of the seats identified are currently held by bigwigs from opposition parties including Ajit Pawar, Prithviraj Chavan, Aaditya Thackeray, Jayant Patil, Vishwajeet Kadam among others

Mumbai After its ‘Mission 45’ set for the Lok Sabha, Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has identified 98 unconquered Assembly constituencies for the accomplishment of winning 200 seats in 2024.

The party has set the target of winning 200 of 288 Assembly seats with the help of its ruling partner Shinde camp in the 2024 polls (Twitter)

Some of the seats identified are currently held by bigwigs from opposition parties including Ajit Pawar, Prithviraj Chavan, Aaditya Thackeray, Jayant Patil, Vishwajeet Kadam among others.

The BJP, which has been concentrating 16 of 48 Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituencies by roping in union ministers as their in-charge, the state unit has identified 98 Assembly segments which are comparatively weaker for the party. The constituencies are the ones which were never won by the party or lost by narrow margin. Barring 10 to 12 constituencies which are currently held by party MLAs, others are the segments represented by three ruling parties and also a few represented by ruling partner Shinde camp.

The party has set the target of winning 200 of 288 Assembly seats with the help of its ruling partner Shinde camp in the 2024 polls. To accomplish the target the party, which currently has 106 members in the lower house, aims to win over 145 seats (the halfway mark in Assembly) on its own. The identification of the seats which can be won with little more effort is the step taken in that direction by the party.

“The identified constituencies included the ones held by the big leaders from the opposition parties, the ones which we lost by narrow margin or because of the triangular fight or them which were with the Shiv Sena previously. More efforts, political nursing, strengthening of organisation and outreach programmes for the schemes by the Centre and state government will help us win most of these seats,” said a leader from the core committee of the party.

The party has identified these seats on the basis of its months-long study taking various factors into consideration. Party performance in previous elections, political issues and political players, caste combination and the organisational status were studied closely to prepare the list of constituencies. Party MLC and general secretary Shrikant Bharatiya has been appointed as chief coordinator for the mission.

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Like union ministers have been appointed for 16 LS constituencies, state ministers will be given the responsibility of strengthening the party in these constituencies. Each one of them will visit four to five constituencies and take the state and central government schemes to the voters.”

Another key party leader said, “Besides reaching out to the beneficiaries of the government schemes, we are strengthening the organisation in all 97,507 polling booths with the help of personal contact with the voters. It will help us in winning the majority of the constituencies.”

The party leaders say that by targeting the constituencies of the big opposition leaders, they are aiming to have multifold political effect. “By targeting the constituencies we will be able to engage these leaders in their constituencies. If a few of them are defeated it leaves a larger damaging effect for the opposition. We firmly believe that since 37% voters are below 25 years now, there is a larger influence of PM Modi on them which will play in our favour making these big wigs from the opposition vulnerable,” the leader quoted above said.