E-Paper
PM Modi, BJP brass review preparations for upcoming state elections
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are among five states — the other three are Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — that will go to the polls later this year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired two separate meetings to discuss the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election preparations, areas of concern, and probable candidates for the upcoming state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Read here: How BJP plans to use the issue of corruption in MP, Rajasthan, Telangana polls
According to a party functionary aware of the details, the meeting, which was attended by senior ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, party president JP Nadda, and members of the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC), the final decision-making body on poll-related issues, discussed issues that the party can make the central theme of its campaigns, and how it can work to strengthen its position in constituencies which are the strongholds of the Opposition. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh were also present at the meetings.
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are among five states — the other three are Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — that will go to the polls later this year.
The party has decided to redouble efforts to improve its tally in seats that have been identified as weak, said the functionary cited above.
“In every election, constituencies are categorised from A to D based on how well the party has performed there in the previous elections. Strongholds are identified as category A and those where the performance is dismal are called D seats. The efforts now will be to not only consolidate party’s position in the A and B category seats, but also make a bid to transform C and D category seats,” the party functionary added.
This will be done through interventions such as picking formidable candidates, raising issues that resonate and planning election campaigns to establish the party’s position in the weak seats. About one-third of the seats in both states have been marked as areas of concern, he explained.
In 2018, the BJP, which went into the polls as the ruling party, lost in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. However, it could form government in Madhya Pradesh 15 months later when a section of leaders from the Congress party, led by senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the BJP.
In the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly, the BJP won only 15 and Congress, with 68 seats, stormed into power. In a close election in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP won 109 of the 230 seats, ceding space to the Congress that won 114. It, however, won heavily in the bypolls held in 2020 after the change in regime and now has 126 seats in the state assembly.
With reports from the state indicating a tough contest between the BJP and the Congress in both the states, the party has begun preparations on a war footing, a second functionary said.
Read here: JP Nadda rejigs BJP central leadership; Dilip Saikia, CT Ravi among those dropped
“Normally such meetings are held closer to the polling dates. But this time the Prime Minister took the initiative of getting a head start,” the functionary added.
Similar meetings of the BJP brass are expected in the next few days to take stock of the preparations in Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana.
