BJP ropes in 120 MPs to outsmart Kejriwal

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jan 30, 2015, DHNS:  As the going gets tough for the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls, party chief Amit Shah engaged his leaders in plain speak at a review meeting on Thursday and directed them to go all out against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal.

To thwart Kejriwal’s ambition of becoming chief minister again, Shah has roped in 120 MPs to micromanage all 70 constituencies.

The MPs will have to ensure that “Panna Pramukhs”, workers who are party’s direct interface with the voters, have contacted every voter at least thrice in the door-to-door campaign.

Each “Panna Pramukh” has to contact 70 families. Shah is believed to have expressed his unhappiness over the poll campaigning which has been “reactionary” rather than setting the agenda.

The faction-ridden Delhi unit is the main concern for the party top brass, forcing Shah to micromanage the show. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) senior functionary Krishna Gopal, who held a meeting of its workers on Wednesday, has also got a feedback about tremendous infighting in the Delhi BJP.

To tackle this, the BJP central leadership has taken over the poll scene, witnessed by the large presence of Union ministers, including Arun Jaitley, at its state unit office. The review meeting at BJP’s Ashoka Road headquarters was attended by Union ministers Jaitley, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ananth Kumar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Nirmala Sitharaman.

Party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and state unit chief Satish Upadhyay were also present. At the meeting, the BJP decided to adopt a different strategy by asking five questions daily to Kejriwal. Shah and  Lal are monitoring booth level arrangements. The RSS has also deployed its workers at the booth level so that coordinated effort could be launched.

The party is likely to fall back on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a decisive edge in the stiff challenge it is facing from the AAP.  Several poll surveys have projected a close finish. Modi will address four rallies here but the number may go up depending on the feedback. The prime minister’s first rally before poll dates were announced did not attract large crowds.

The HT-C fore survey, interestingly, projected seats in the range of 31 to 36 for both the BJP and AAP. However, the survey stated that voters preferred Kejriwal to BJP’s Kiran Bedi as chief minister.

The survey said that 43 per cent wanted Kejriwal as chief minister, while 39 per cent opted for Bedi. Another survey by The Week-IMRB suggests that the BJP will win 39 seats in the 70-member Assembly, while the AAP will manage 29.