With eye on ’19 polls, Shah hits the road to expand BJP’s reach
NEW DELHI: High on the party’s stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in March, BJP president Amit Shah has already hit the road for 2019 general elections.
He is on a 110-day, countrywide tour – even though the next general election is two years away. His goal is to gain acceptance for BJP ideology and build a stronger ‘Brand Narendra Modi’ that will help party repeat its 2014 feat.
Modi remains BJP’s most popular leader and completes three years in power on May and Shah’s strategy is to capitalise on the Prime Minister’s popularity and clean reputation to win the next election with a mandate greater than 2014.
Till September, Shah will spend 95 days to texpand its footprints in the northeastern and coastal state where the party’s position is not great. He is meeting party workers and intellectuals to promote Modi’s achievements and party ideology. Separately, he will spend 15 days to meet voters at booth level.
The reach-out drive began from Jammu on April 29. Shah then flew to Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Dates for his trip to Tamil Nadu and Kerala are being worked out.
Under the 15-day programme, named Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vistarak Yojna, Shah spent two days in West Bengal and is headed to Lakshadweep and Telangana next. This leg of his yatra will also cover Odisha and Gujarat.
“Compare Shah’s strategy with that of Congress’ Rahul Gandhi,” a BJP leader told HT adding, “Despite big victories, Shah is touring, but Rahul is missing in action despite a series of losses.”
The BJP chief was at Somnath in Gujarat, the very next day after campaigning ended for Uttar Pradesh in March.
Shah’s tour will try to increase BJP’s footprints in the northeast and coastal areas, which covers most of those 120 seats that it has never won. The scale of BJP’s victory in 2019 will also depend on how it performs in these pockets.
“He wants greater acceptability for BJP’s ideology,” the BJP leader said. “Greater acceptability for our ideology will certainly result into electoral success.”
The BJP is particularly excited with the scale of mandate it got in UP. The BJP won 282 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with just 31% votes.
BJP sources claim expansion of the party in 120 Lok Sabha seats and in new areas will help it reach closer to the 50% vote share mark – a target that BJP leaders admit to have set for themselves in 2019.