Photo for representational purpose only

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17

Though the BJP has announced to contest all 117 Assembly constituencies on its own after breaking up with the Shiromani Akali Dal, it seems to be an uphill task for the party as the present list of party office-bearers hardly has any leaders from the rural background.

As per the current list of 43 office-bearers, 11 can partly claim to be hailing from the rural areas despite the state’s over 70 per cent constituencies falling in rural areas. The party had announced nine state vice-presidents, four state general secretaries, nine state secretaries, one each treasurer and office secretary, press secretary, spokespersons, etc.

For two-and-a-half decades, the party was a junior alliance partner with the SAD, and thus it didn’t make much efforts to make inroads into rural areas. The party’s activities remained confined mainly to the 23 constituencies it would contest from.

The same practice also reflected in the selection of recent office-bearers. Of the 43 office-bearers, 27 are from the 23 Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies the party used to contest in alliance with the SAD and just 16 are from the 94 constituencies Akali Dal used to contest from.

The situation for the BJP has become more challenging in the rural areas where the party is facing strong resistance over the recent farm laws.

State BJP president Ashwani Sharma said though the party contested just 23 seats, it had units across the state. But senior leader Madan Mohan Mittal, who is also a member of the party’s core committee, accepted that it was a valid question before the party. “Once the issue of farmers settles down, we will expand in rural areas too,” he added.