NaMo app, bigger RSS role part of BJP poll push in Haryana

Wary of anti-incumbency, the ruling BJP has put in place a new strategy ahead of the high-stakes October 5 Assembly poll in Haryana. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rendezvous with booth-level workers through the ‘NaMo App’ to a bigger role for the parent organisation — the RSS — to activating ‘panna pramukhs’, the saffron party is pulling out all the stops to counter the challenge.

The primary objective of the strategy, being implemented over the next 10 days, is to consolidate the cadre vote in favour of party candidates. “With a well-knit organisational setup right up to the booth level, cadre votes will play a crucial role in the party candidates’ victory,” a party source said.

‘Organisational setup robust’

While the BJP has a well-knit organisational structure right up to the grassroots level, Congress lacks such a setup. Our party cadre’s commitment is our USP. Mohan Lal Badoli, State BJP chief

Though it’s likely to be a two-way race between the BJP and Congress, there are at least 20 seats where candidates belonging to non-BJP and non-Congress parties, as also Independents may play a deciding role. In the event of multi-cornered contests, the cadre vote would be a game-changer for the party, the sources asserted.

In a bid to mobilise grassroots workers, Modi will interact with them on September 26 through the ‘NaMo App’ under the party’s ‘mera booth sabse mazboot’ programme.

The saffron party has also decided to rope in RSS volunteers, who have a sizeable presence on the ground, to campaign for the party in ‘coordination’ with BJP office-bearers.

In the wake of BJP’s below-par showing in the Lok Sabha elections, in which it conceded five of the 10 seats to the Congress, the RSS had complained of lack of coordination between the two organisations. The issue was flagged during their coordination meetings last month.

As a result, the RSS was able to secure party nominations for a sizeable number of candidates tracing their roots to the Sangh. These included a majority of the 40 new faces fielded by the BJP to beat anti-incumbency. In fact, the RSS volunteers are reportedly managing the campaign of certain BJP candidates, the sources said. A series of informal meetings between the RSS and BJP functionaries had been taking place from time to time to firm up the poll strategy, they said. The BJP has already reactivated its ‘panna pramukhs’ (in charge of electoral rolls), who have been instrumental in party’s good performance in the 2014 and 2019 Assembly polls. Further, efforts are on to mollify disgruntled ‘panna pramukhs’ who had been unhappy with certain party and government functionaries for a variety of reasons, the sources said.

State BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli claimed theirs was a cadre-based outfit that always worked in a mission mode as compared to other parties, which got active only during elections.