BY ANINDYA BANERJEE
It may be just a year-and-a-half since the BJP swept back to power at the Centre with an even bigger mandate than in 2014, but party President J.P. Nadda is all set to start a nationwide organisation building effort for the 2024 general elections.
After becoming BJP President and forming his new team and appointing state in-charges, Nadda is likely to embark on a 100-day tour of India. BJP insiders said the goal is to create a ‘sangathan’ down to the booth level in all those seats where it had lost, either due to lack of organisation as in Tamil Nadu or acceptability as in Kerala.
While states are being divided into multiple categories — BJP-ruled, non-BJP ruled, poll-bound etc., Nadda’s focus will be on each state.
This trip, which is meticulously being planned at the Centre with close coordination with the state units, comes in the wake of NDA’s victory in Bihar elections, where the BJP emerged as the big brother in the alliance with the JD-U with 74 seats.
On the day of election results on November 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had heaped praises on Nadda by raising the slogan, “Nadda ji aage badho, hum sab aapke sath hai” (Nadda ji move ahead, we are with you).
With the focus primarily on the seats which the BJP failed to win in 2019, the tour will have a major thrust on the southern part of India. Sources said that Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be among the states where Nadda wants to build an organisation, set goals for not just the state, but district leadership and devise state specific strategies.
A senior BJP leader, who is spending much time in southern India of late, told IANS, “In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP suffered a blow in 2019. The YSR Congress won 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats. But for the BJP, 2019 was not great as far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned. We had won two seats in 2014 but failed to win any last year. Naturally, the focus will be to reverse that and our ‘Adhyaksh ji’ will devise a strategy for that.” Nadda is called ‘Adhyaksh ji’ in BJP circles, owing to the post he holds.
But that doesn’t mean Nadda won’t be focussing on the BJP or NDA ruled states. “Every state will have its own requirement,” the BJP leader added. Nadda is likely to stay for three days in each state.
Uttar Pradesh, as always, will have the king’s share of his time, given the vast expanse of the state, which is going to the polls in 2022. Nadda is likely to stay for eight days in UP where he will be doing zone wise review in Western UP, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal and Awadh.
During Nadda’s ‘Mission 2024’, as it is unofficially referred to within the BJP by few leaders, he will not only hold meetings, but also ask specific questions. He is also likely to hold a few press conferences in the state capitals.
While measures are being taken to restrict the number of attendees and avoid customary gestures like garlanding him in view of the pandemic, leaders privy to his tour has confirmed two things — state leaders and in-charges are likely to have an idea beforehand what the BJP President will be deliberating upon, so as to avoid wastage of time, and non-compliance with the set goals during his 100-day tour will be ‘very seriously viewed’.
