The BJP has set the target for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Amit Shah has given a target to bring 360+ seats to leaders and party workers. According to media reports, Shah held discussions with BJP leaders in a meeting with more than 30 leaders for three hours in the headquarter. According to the reports, BJP President asked central ministers and party leaders to specifically focus on those seats, where the BJP was defeated during the last election. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, BJP won 282 seats by securing majority on a single day. As per a news agency the Cabinet could reshuffle this month. BJP would focus on following states:
It is being said that Amit Shah explained in full details, about the target 360+ in an impromptu meeting convened by the BJP leaders and Union Ministers.
In his mission 360+, the focus will be on the 150 seats where the party could not win the election in 2014. Party would focus on Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal more. On Thursday, the West Bengal Civic Polls were declared. Trinamool won all the 7 seats, but BJP trumped the Left and the Congress behind and has emerged as the second largest party.
9 ministers met Amit Shah:
On Thursday, nine ministers of the Modi government met Amit Shah. They told Amit Shah about the functioning of their Ministries. According to the news agency ANI, the ministers met Amit Shah at the time when the Cabinet is likely to reshuffle this month. The ministers who met Shah include Ravishankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Manoj Sinha and Arjun Ram Meghwal.
After the passing away of Anil Madhav Dave, Manohar Parrikar’s return to Goa as CM and Venkaiah Naidu as Vice-President, some posts are vacant in the Union Cabinet. Some Ministers like Arun Jaitley have charge of more than one ministry. Hence this meeting becomes all the more important. With JDU formally entering the NDA today, they may get a couple of Portfolios too.
Here’s the current status of BJP in the country:
1). BJP IS IN POWER IN 18 STATES-
- BJP has its own government in 13 states of the country, alliance government in five states. That makes a grand total of 18 states
- BJP got 282 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The highest number of 71 seats was from UP, which has a BJP government after this year’s assembly elections
- After forming government in Bihar in collaboration with JDU, BJP is ruling the 67% of the country’s population and 58% of the economy
- BJP is moving ahead in the major states of the country. The Alliance parties are in power in 7 of the 12 states.
2) Support from 71 NON-NDA MPs
In states like Tamil Nadu and Odisha, there is no BJP government but AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and BJD have a clear leaning towards BJP. In 2014 AIADMK won 37 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and BJD won 37 seats in Odisha.
3) Congress has only one big state
– 130 years old Congress has only one big state Karnataka left. But, here too BS Yeddyurappa’s leadership is working overtime to make a strong comeback in 2018. Among the states which have non-BJP and Congress governments, Kerala and West Bengal are important and Amit Shah is galvanizing the state cadres.
How Amit Shah strengthened the party in three years?
A.) 541 km journey daily, 500 rallies: Amit Shah visited every state of the country in three years. Most of his rallies carried out via roads. On an average, Amit Shah travelled 541 km daily, Conducted more than 500 rallies in three years. He even became the first national president of the BJP, who has spent 110 days in intensive travel across the country.
B) Initiative to take the party forward
- Shah formed the OBC Front for the first time to increase the vote base of the workers and the party.
- Started the program by name of Jana Mandal. Now any party worker can meet the party leaders without getting an appointment
- More than 8 lakh workers were given the facility of training in their blocks, district located near home. By taking this step, BJP started to get dedicated workers at booth level.
On the lines of RSS, the concept of full-time workers came into being in BJP under Shah’s Leadership. Under this, 4 lakh workers were added. These 4 lakh workers decided to stay away from home for 15 days, 6 months and one year and work on day-night for the party at unknown places.
C) How Amit Shah made BJP more popular among the masses?
Shah asked the party leaders to come closer to the public, “Big leaders should give priority to travel by rail or road rather than air travel.” He said
He further added “If you have to stay in the night, then stay in the home of the workers of the exploited or disadvantaged sections instead of the hotel.”
Training camps were organized near the homes for workers in every part of the country, so that the timing should be used properly.
With Inputs from the Following Articles: