Karnataka over, BJP & Cong begin next round of poll preparations

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, May 21

With the Karnataka Assembly elections over, the BJP and the Congress have begun strategising for the next round of polls which would directly impact the 2024 General Election and the morale of the party cadre in this crucial year.

The ruling BJP has finalised two-member teams, each consisting of a Union Minister or a senior central leader and a state leader, and assigned them the responsibility of four Lok Sabha segments each as part of the party’s upcoming month-long “Nine Years of Narendra Modi Government” outreach event starting May 30.

As for the Congress, it has called a strategy meeting with leaders of poll-bound states Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on May 24.

The Tribune has accessed letters BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh has written to Union Ministers and leaders handpicked by the party for the unprecedented outreach under the “Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan” between May 30 and June 30.

The letter states, “The BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is completing nine years in office on May 30, 2023… Each team has been assigned a cluster of four Lok Sabha constituencies and is expected to spend at least two days in every assigned segment to ensure successful implementation of the drive at the ground level.”

Several BJP leaders from the northern region have been drafted for the special project, which the party hopes to convert into a mass connect event with the voters.

Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Etawah (SC) in Uttar Pradesh are among the Lok Sabha segments assigned to former Himachal Pradesh BJP president Suresh Kashyap and Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Inder Singh. Himachal BJP co-incharge Sanjay Tandon has been teamed up with Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel to focus on Raigarh, Shirdi, Baramati and Shirur parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra.

Iqbal Singh Lalpura, BJP parliamentary board member, has been assigned four LS seats, including Shahjahanpur and Bareilly in UP.

On the Congress side, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will chair a meeting on May 24 to finalise the poll strategy in the poll-bound states and find solutions to faction-ridden Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh units.

Congress sources say ironing out internal differences and starting early to determine dominant local issues for campaign content had propelled the party to victory in Karnataka. “The experiment needs to be repeated to retain Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, win Madhya Pradesh and make an impact in Telangana,” a Congress leader said.

Election season: Looking ahead

BJP forms teams

• BJP’s two-member teams assigned 4 Lok Sabha segment each; every team will spend two days in each assigned constituency
• The most important part of BJP’s pan-India programme will be door-to-door voter outreach scheduled between June 20 and 30

Cong meet on May 24

• Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge calls a strategy meeting with leaders of poll-bound states on May 24
• The Congress wants to urgently find solutions to faction-ridden party units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh