BJP sets sights on 25 seats in B’luru districts

BENGALURU: The BJP, which has set itself an ambitious target in the Assembly polls next year with its ‘Mission 150’, is eyeing 25 of the 32 seats in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts. Party national president Amit Shah is said to have advised the state BJP unit to work towards achieving this target.

Currently, BJP has 12 MLAs from the city and four from Bengaluru Rural. The party, which has a strong base in the city, won all three parliamentary seats in the city and it had done well in the BBMP elections too, winning 101 out of 198 wards. Two MPs from the city -- Ananth Kumar from Bengaluru South and D V Sadananda Gowda representing Bengaluru North — are Union ministers.

Party sources said Amit Shah has informed state leaders that Bengaluru Urban has potential which can favour BJP if they work well. “In the 2008 Assembly election, we won 17 seats but in 2013, the number came down 12. Shah has told us to improve our tally and hit the 25 mark in Bengaluru in the 2018 Assembly election,’’ the source said.

Former Deputy CM and senior BJP leader R Ashok said, “Of the 32 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru Urban and Rural constituencies, we were told to notch up 25 seats. Though there is a Congress government in the state, the people gave just 74 seats out of 198 in the BBMP election. This is a clear indication that people are in our favour.”

BJP has already started its campaign rallies. “Last week, it was at JP Nagar and this Sunday, it will be near old Airport. On January 7, we are organising one more rally at Govindaraja Nagar. The Siddaramaiah government neglected Bengaluru completely. If they had taken enough measures, 15 people would have not died in one monsoon season. Bengaluru is one among the top cities when it comes to murders. We will tell this to the people. We are in power at the Centre and if there is is a BJP government in the state, there will be more coordination and hence more development works can be taken up,” he added.
BJP has also been quite active on social media and messaging platforms.

“We have WhatsApp groups through which we are reaching many people across the state. We have a good social media team. We are now going to have more booth-level social media groups and want to reach more people,’’ Ashok said.

The party will also come out with a separate manifesto for Bengaluru. “With all these, we are confident of reaching 25 targeted seats. Bengaluru’s population is one-fifth of the state’s. If we make our base strong in Bengaluru by winning 25 seats, we can easily reach Mission 150,’’ he added.