The BJP has mounted its campaign for Himachal Pradesh months ahead of the Assembly polls in the hill state.
In addition to party president JP Nadda’s visit, among a set of measures that the party is working on is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first election rally at the end of June and a meeting with booth presidents.
During his four-day visit to the state, Nadda is meeting workers across the state, gathering feedback to work on the party’s strategy. A senior leader in the know said that Nadda will hold meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi once he’s back.
BJP leaders in the party’s state unit said that workers have been asked to prepare for a rally by Modi to be held between June 25 and 30. In addition, meetings of booth presidents across four regions of the state will be held with the attendance of senior party leaders soon.
Following the electoral success of the BJP across states like Uttar Pradesh and Assam due to delivery of schemes, the party has also started a system where a worker is given the responsibility of nurturing a group of beneficiaries of government schemes.
“Some workers have been deputed as a ‘sarthi’ and their job is to ensure knowledge of government schemes to ‘labh bhartis’ (beneficiaries). Each sarthi is responsible for 100 labhbhartis,” a leader from the party’s state unit said.
Despite these measures, party leaders said that the elections will not be a smooth affair for the party, with a section of the workers being disgruntled over several issues. There was widespread speculation that the party will change sitting Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, however, Nadda put these rumours to rest and said on Sunday that Thakur will lead the campaign henceforth.
A worker who was waiting to hear about a change said that a section of workers was unhappy. “There is political mismanagement, and local leaders cannot speak freely in the Pradesh Karya Samiti (state executive),” the leader said.
The BJP will be facing the heat from the Aam Aadmi Party in the hill state, after the AAP turned its sights to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat after a stunning win in Punjab.
However, days after Arvind Kejriwal held a massive rally at Mandi, the BJP managed to induct AAP’s state president Anup Kesari, general secretary Satish Thakur as well Una chief Iqbal Singh in a move that might come as a jolt to AAP.
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