BJP begins self-assessment ahead of '19 polls

RANCHI: As it prepares to face the political heat from a united front of the opposition parties in the run up to the 2019 Parliamentary polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jharkhand has set its sights on cranking up preparations on Lok Sabha seats on which it did not perform well.


BJP's national general secretary Arun Singh kickstarted a two-day review meeting of preparations to strengthen its vanguards and improve relations with the masses in Ranchi on Thursday. Singh held a meeting with the state committees formed in Jharkhand to oversee preparations of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls next year. Here, he told sitting MPs, social media managers and workers to lay emphasis on popularising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio show 'Man Ki Baat' among rural pockets of their constituencies.

"We are preparing keeping the Mahagatbandhan in mind. The booths have been marked into four categories based on the priorities required to improve them," BJP Jharkhand president Laxman Gilua said. Gilua conceded the BJP had challenges in front of it in 2019. "But we are confident that the Mahagatbandhan cannot harm BJP one bit," he added.

BJP, sources said, is concentrating on the parliamentary seats in Santhal Pargana, where it lost both Rajmahal and Dumka seats to JMM. But Gilua said: "Our preparations are well on course. We will fight to win all seats this time."