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Rallies to rally support
The party is banking on big rallies and roadshows by Prime minister Narendra Modi, who continues to be their chief campaigner and draws maximum crowds
Ahead of the second phase of elections the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its outreach to ensure that the voter turnout is higher for the seats going to polls than the corresponding figures of 2019.
The party has blamed the dip in the turnout, in the 102 seats that went to polls on April 19, on several factors, including the heatwave and voter apathy.
The party is banking on big rallies and roadshows by Prime minister Narendra Modi, who continues to be their chief campaigner and draws maximum crowds. State units have also requested more rallies by Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and a clutch of leaders who are known for their oratory skills.
Till last week, the PM had addressed 36 rallies and 7 roadshows, and the number is still going up, with him speaking at least two gatherings every day. Shah has had 11 roadshows, 25 public meetings, 10 organisational meetings till date while Singh, who was in Siachen on Monday, has also addressed over 40 rallies and public meetings.
Expulsion
Senior leader KS Eshwarappa has been expelled by the party for six years. The disciplinary action has been taken after the party failed to convince the leader to withdraw from the polls as an independent candidate from the Shimoga seat. A former chief minister, Eshwarappa has been in the party’s crosshairs for violating the party line. Although the party has been reluctant to give tickets to kin of leaders, he had been pushing for a ticket for his son, pointing out that the sons of former CM BS Yediyurappa were allowed to contest the assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
The expulsion notwithstanding, the former CM claims he still supports PM Modi and while the action against him was not unexpected as he had contested as an independent, he considers the BJP as his “mother”.
Ladakh candidate
The UT goes to polls on May 20 and the BJP candidate is yet to be announced.
While party leaders in Delhi have signalled that the sitting MP, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, may not be repeated, a section of leaders in the union territory are upset that the popular, youth leader has been left out in the cold. The party unit in the UT itself is divided over giving the MP a second chance.
Namgyal shot to fame following his emotive speech in the Lok Sabha on the Abrogation of Article 370, which earned him the praise of PM Modi. Senior party leaders feel that the MP did not succeed in quelling the unrest in Ladakh over the demand for the implementation of schedule VI, and Article 371.
A senior party leader in Delhi blamed the media for valorising his speech and said the attention for the young MP was too much, too quick.
