Modi rally response revs up BJP for 2nd phase of campaign

Buoyed by the good response to its pre-election rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the state BJP now wants to keep the momentum and launch a more aggressive second phase of its poll campaign.

To start with, the party is planning to take the government head-on on a day-to-day basis. Constituency-wise rallies for communities and target groups like IT professionals are being planned.

According to party sources, a series of meetings to be attended by state leaders and functionaries have been lined up this week to work out the modalities.

The BJP considers the Navakarnataka Nirmana Parivarthana Yatra, which culminated with the Modi rally, as the conclusion of the first phase of its poll campaign. "The show of strength at Palace Grounds has helped in galvanising and boosting the morale of the party cadre. We have decided to hold a series a community rallies in the coming days," BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar said.

Separate conventions of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and women are on the cards. The first such rally is likely to be a convention of Koli Samaja in the name of Ambigara Chowdaiah, the follower of 12th century social reformer Basavanna in Yadgir.

Manifesto

The BJP will also step up the 'Nava Karnataka Janapara Shakti' programme, which will form the basis while framing the party's manifesto for the Assembly elections. It is an exercise that involves extensive interaction with voters from across the state. Alongside, the party will come out with a roadmap in 40 sectors ranging from infrastructure, education, tourism, public finance to industries after consulting domain and subject experts.

Charge sheets

Constituency-wise charge sheets on the "failures" and "non-implementation" of the promises made by the Congress government are being readied at the party's state headquarters in Malleswaram and will be released soon.

The party's I-T cell, on Monday, launched a hashtag campaign #Modimaatu #KarnatakaTrustsModi on social media, highlighting excerpts from Modi's Sunday speech in Bengaluru.

The BJP's state leaders are also keen to cashing in on Brand Modi early and has sought that he address two to three rallies in each of the seven regions of the state later this month and in March.