Amit Shah to finalise BJP's Haryana Assembly poll campaign roadmap today

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, June 28

With the BJP top brass unhappy with the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections in which the party won five of 10 seats in the state, the central leadership has stepped in to take charge of the Assembly poll.

New state BJP chief likely

The party, on priority, is likely to announce a new BJP state chief. Insiders said it was likely to be guided by caste equation in choosing the new chief — likely to belong to the Brahmin or Scheduled Caste community

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Panchkula tomorrow to finalise the campaign roadmap as the election will be fought under the supervision of the central leaders.

Though the elections are still three months away, the BJP is kick-starting its campaign by addressing grassroots leaders tomorrow. Sources said 50 elected representatives drawn from various civic bodies, as also Panchayati Raj institutions from each of the 90 Assembly seats, had been invited for an in-house meeting.

While the state executive led by in charge Dharmendra Pradhan and co-in charge Biplab Deb, central leaders, will hold a meeting with the invitees first, Shah will hold a separate meeting with them.

“The internal surveys of the party are not very encouraging. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, where we won five of 10 seats after 2019’s clean sweep, we have seen that the party was ahead in 44 seats. That election was fought in the name of PM Narendra Modi. We will need to get our act together for the Assembly poll,” a senior party leader stated.

Party sources said though CM Nayab Singh Saini was going all out to woo voters and had a 90-day plan in place, strategising and contesting the elections would need prior planning and supervision of senior leaders.

“Though senior leaders are a part of the aggressive campaigning by the party, they have been roped in way ahead of the campaign schedule. This election is likely to be a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress and the party does not want to lose Haryana,” another leader stated.

The sources said the elected representatives were likely to be assigned the task of reaching out to voters in the villages and cities with set targets while also fanning out in their respective Assembly segments.

Also, the party, on priority, is likely to announce a new BJP state chief. Insiders said the party was likely to be guided by caste equation in choosing the new chief — likely to belong to the Brahmin or Scheduled Caste community. The CM is presently the state chief as well.

“The Chief Minister is from the OBC category while the party has a Punjabi, a Gujjar and an Ahir in the government at the Centre. The Speaker represents the trader community. The party will keep the caste dynamics in mind when choosing the next chief,” claimed party sources.

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