As the BJP gears up to take on the Congress-led UPA in a series of state assembly polls and the Lok Sabha election thereafter, its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani is all set to embark on yet another political yatra across the country to galvanise the party’s state units into action for the battles ahead.
Termed as the ‘Sankalp Yatra’this time, the campaign will be launched on February 6 from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh from where he will travel to other cities addressing public rallies to boost the BJP preparations. According to the tentative schedule drawn up at the party’s national council meet here, he will speak at rallies in Jabalpur, Rampur, Bangalore, Ranchi, Varanasi , Lucknow, Hyderabad , Chennai, Pune, Rohtak and Jammu from February 6 to March 23.
In his address to the conclave on its concluding day on Tuesday, the leader observed that the party’s mood was “upbeat, confident and optimistic” after its recent victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.Cautioning the delegates that the Congress was hoping to cash in on an “anti-incumbency” sentiment among the people in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh polls slated later this year and trying to assess whether holding the Lok Sabha election with these would benefit it, he urged all state units to take a “sankalp” (resolve) to win in both elections.
Unveiling the action plan chalked out by the central election management committee, senior party leader Sushma Swaraj , meanwhile, asked all the state units to get into the “poll mode” for Lok Sabha elections like the central party. It had been decided to carry out an assessment of the current political situation and the BJP’s electoral prospects in all the 297 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country where the saffron party had won at some point of time or the other during the past 15 years, she told the gathering.
This assessment would be discussed with the state units and election strategy for each constituency would be drawn up accordingly, she added.
Unveiling the action plan chalked out by the central election management committee, senior party leader Sushma Swaraj , meanwhile, asked all the state units to get into the “poll mode” for Lok Sabha elections like the central party. It had been decided to carry out an assessment of the current political situation and the BJP’s electoral prospects in all the 297 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country where the saffron party had won at some point of time or the other during the past 15 years, she told the gathering.
This assessment would be discussed with the state units and election strategy for each constituency would be drawn up accordingly, she added.
Swaraj made a forceful plea to the BJP rank and file to sink their internal differences during election time and unitedly pit their strength behind the party’s official candidate to ensure his victory. She also urged the state leaders to take a realistic and practical view while examining the prospects of poll alliances with other parties, taking into account the fact that there were some states where the BJP had traditionally won only when it joined hands with other regional partners.