BJP falls behind target in forming Page Samitis

Party extended deadline thrice for creating more than 1.20 lakh Page Samitis across 4k booths; Chintan Baithak to review it for civic polls

The state BJP is yet to achieve its target of creating Page Samitis across the state, especially with Ahmedabad city and district lagging behind the deadline of forming more than 1.20 lakh Page Samitis across 4,000 booths. The party has organised a Chintan Baithak, which will review the preparation of municipal corporation polls and what the Page Samitis have achieved apart from discussing other issues.

BJP state president C R Paatil started the drive of creating Page Pramukhs and Samitis from the Navsari parliamentary seat from where he won the polls with a historical margin. Looking at its success in the by-elections where the BJP won all the eight seats, the party has started a drive across the 182 assembly seats in the state with an aim to win all the seats.

There are 30 voters on each page, of which six members have to be selected and an identity card with photograph issued to them by the party. The party has provided a list of 4,000 booths, where 1.20 lakh Page Samitis have to be created and the task has been entrusted to leaders at the level of a councillor or is a member of parliament. The party has already started preparations for the civic polls to be held in February and this is a curtain raiser to the Assembly polls to be held in state in 2022.

The party had first set the deadline of December 10 in Ahmedabad city and extended it to December 20. However, the task is just halfway, claimed a leader. "The party has extended the deadline twice and we have just reached the halfway mark. The senior leaders don't go door-to-door and pass on the work to the concerned councillors and ward presidents.

"There are many Page Samitis where there are only three to four members against the target of six members in each samiti," a BJP source said.

The source added, "The party had first set the deadline for December 10, then it was extended to 15 and then set for December 20. The work will be reviewed by leaders at a Chintan Baithak to be held at DK Patel hall in Naranpura. The process is unlikely to complete before February if it continues to work at this pace. This will affect the prospects of the party in the polls."

Meanwhile, party leaders said this is a continuous process and they will achieve the target.

"This is a mammoth task and a continuous process. The leaders are working enthusiastically to achieve the target. We have to create over 1.25 lakh Samitis and it will be done well before time. We will review it in the Chintan Baithak along with preparation for civic polls," said I J Jadeja, a senior BJP leader and Ahmedabad city in-charge.