BJP supporter starts portal, targets 360+ seats

NEW DELHI: More than a year before the ruling BJP faces the next general election, one of its supporters has launched a private website seeking volunteers who will help the party win over 360 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The 44-year-old Vijay Chada, who is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley on Twitter, launched the website on January 2 asking for supporters to enrol for the 2019 election campaign. The Lok Sabha elections are expected around April-May next year. “The 2014 campaign was to defeat the Congress after a decade of misrule. The 2019 campaign is to ensure that the good work continues and that the Congress doesn’t return back directly or indirectly,” Chada’s post on the Mission 360+ homepage said, asking volunteers to provide their names, email IDs, Twitter handles and indicate how they want to get involved in the mission.

“I mentioned the target of 360+ because the two-third majority mark in the House is 362. BJP has achieved a clear majority. We have to now strive for two-thirds majority in Parliament,” Vijay, who is not a member of the BJP, told Hindustan Times on Sunday.

The civil engineer who works as a consultant in IT industry had actively participated in the BJP’s 2014 campaign, when the party won an unprecedented 282 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Along with its NDA allies, the number swelled to 336 in the 543member lower house.

“I started this initiative on my own to test the waters. I did not consult any BJP leader. My thinking behind the portal was to see how many people are willing to commit to support Prime Minister Modi when elections are due next year,” said Chada, who has over 73,000 followers on Twitter. The man behind the portal said he has met Modi twice. He added that his attraction for the BJP grew after he heard the speeches of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and former BJP chief LK Advani. “Now I want the BJP to reach the next level,” he said.