Eye on polls, BJP focus on party organisation

MANGALURU: The State assembly elections are still two and half years away. But it seems that the ruling BJP is not ready to take any chances and has started preparations well in advance. The party’s state executive committee meeting held in Mangaluru on Thursday laid a lot of emphasis on the party organization with an eye on coming back to power in the state on its own strength of 140-150 seats.

To achieve the goal, the party has taken the forthcoming elections to the gram panchayats and then taluk and zilla pachayats very seriously which it considers as stepping stones for the big battle in 2023. Starting from Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, all top leaders told the party functionaries that winning the panchayat elections is as important as the assembly and Lok Sabha.

State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel made the party’s intentions more clear when he said they should focus on not just winning elections but winning on the strength of the party’s organization and appealed to the workers to ensure the victory of party workers in 80 per cent of gram panchayat seats. Sources said the party is leaving no stone unturned as it is well aware of the big challenges ahead.

“All these years, Yediyurappa was our trump card. But now the focus is on the strength of the party, like it happened in Uttar Pradesh and some other states in North India,” said the source For the first time, the party is seriously implementing ‘Pancharatna’ and ‘Page Pramukh’ concepts in panchayat elections and is also organizing family get-togethers at village levels to apprise them about the achievements of the government.

Party’s state media convenor Capt Ganesh Karnik said the party’s rank and file, starting from mandal to state level, have been told to understand their responsibilities and extensively tour their respective areas in order to organize the party in the coming days.. Appealing to the party workers to strive for BJP’s success, the leaders said that their hard work will be suitably rewarded. Kateel and Union minister Pralhad Joshi gave their own examples to drive home the point.

Do Congress leaders even trust their mothers, asks Ravi at party conclave
Mangaluru: Newly-elected BJP national general secretary CT Ravi launched a tirade against the Congress for questioning the NDA government’s achievements. Speaking after the BJP executive commitee meeting in Mangaluru, he said that Congress leaders have the habit of suspecting everything. 

“When they (Congress leaders) found out that their party will lose Sira and RR Nagar bypoll, the candidates and other leaders started doubting the EVMs. They also suspected judges who ruled on Ayodhya and even the surgical strike. Can people who suspect soldiers even trust their mother?” he questioned.  Stating that BJP is losing hundreds of workers in neighbouring Kerala every year, Ravi said the party should be strengthened there, and in Tamil Nadu and Telangana.