BJP launches village connect drive in UP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has launched a series of initiatives aimed at managing the Covid situation in the state’s countryside where the ruling party recently got embarrassed in the three-tier panchayat polls.
Out of total 403 assembly segments that go to polls in less than a year’s time, more than 299 have a rural or semi-rural character, reason why the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) giving it a scare in these polls has made the saffron party sit up and take note.
That’s why the BJP, which has already decided to make the post of ‘panna pramukhs’ permanent (panna pramukh is one, made in-charge of a page in the voters’ list and of contacting the voters), is now looking to connect with the villages afresh – both at the level of the government as well as the party, sources said. At the party level, the cadres have been tasked with connecting with the villagers at the booth level, an exercise also aimed at galvanising the boothlevel machinery ahead of the 2022 UP assembly polls, party leaders said. The BJP claims to have revived 1.63 lakh booths in the state and hopes it would help in rural penetration, party leaders said.
A review of the zila panchayat poll results is underway too, through which the party is also identifying the role of party leaders, rebel and others. Cadres have also been directed to ensure that people benefit from the initiatives announced by the government. The ‘panna pramukhs’ would be appointed by September end, say party leaders revealing the party’s plan to penetrate the villages, reaching out to the villagers and connecting with them.
While the ‘test-track and treat’ campaign was launched in the villages, immediately after the completion of the panchayat polls in April end, the government has now decided to ensure that people would be given Rs 5000 in the villages to cremate the dead.
The decision by the state’s panchayati raj department is aimed at as much at stopping the villagers from burying their dead alongside riverbanks, as at winning over the villagers many of whom are angry at the government’s handling of the covid situation in villages, some party leaders admitted on condition of anonymity. A simultaneous plan to rehabilitate migrant labourers who had returned to the state after Covid outbreak is already on. “As a party, whether in power or away, we have always been alive to people’s need. So, we have been helping the villagers through the vast network of cadres. There are families who have been entirely affected by Covid. For them, we have been arranging medicines, food and other requirements. We have got a party helpline going and Covid helpdesks have also been set up,” said UP BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava.
“The government has already decided to provide monetary support to daily wagers like masons, barbers whose livelihoods have been affected due to the partial Corona review. We will ensure that the villagers are aware of the initiatives and take maximum benefit,” a party leader said.