The BJP flag.
Credit: DH File Photo
New Delhi: In constituencies where polling is already done, the BJP has instructed its candidates to fan out to constituencies nationwide to mobilise support for party nominees in the upcoming phases.
On instructions from the party high command, Karnataka BJP leaders like Shobha Karanadlaje, C T Ravi, Brijesh Chowta, and K Sudhakar and some other leaders have been designated in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.
Sources in the Karnataka unit of the BJP said that senior party leader Ravi and Union Minister Karandlaje have been assigned to work in Uttar Pradesh.
Chikkaballapur BJP candidate K Sudhakar and Bommanahalli BJP MLA Satish Reddy have been given poll-related responsibilities in Telangana, and Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan will head to Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh.
Similarly, Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar will head to Maharashtra, and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya will soon be assigned for similar work.
Leaders across the country, too, have been doing poll-related duties; for instance, Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai has been directed to head to Kerala as well as Karnataka after elections for his seat were over in the first phase.
Sources said that several experienced organisational hands, too, have been given work all across the country. This is in addition to the start campaigners list, which will feature the party’s prominent names.
A senior party leader from Maharashtra, not wishing to be named, said that in the BJP, even the Prime Minister is a 'karyakarta'.
“We have Union Ministers as 'panna pramukhs' within the party; in fact, the party president is also engaged in booth work,” the leader said.
Union Minister Gajendra Sekhawat was recently seen making slips outside the booth on polling day of the second phase after he cast his vote.
A leader of the party from the South, a frontal head, said that most of the focus is now tied down to the South, with the party holding the maximum rallies of the Prime Minister and Home Minister for the remaining seats.
The leader cited PM Narendra Modi’s recent three-day programme in the South covering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and added that in the coming weeks the PM will be travelling to Telangana for the third and fourth time.
“Some of the key faces of the party, as well as experienced hands have been designated either in Uttar Pradesh or South India."
"In Tamil Nadu, especially, where a lot of these efforts were centered, we will register a surprisingly good vote share. In South India, we will emerge as the single-largest party,” the leader said.