Days after prime minister Narendra Modi praised his efforts in Telangana at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Executive Committee meet, the party’s state unit president Bandi Sanjay said that as part of the party's preparations, they have reached out to over 80 per cent of the state’s booth, ensuring a basic party structure there.
“Of the 33,000-odd booths in the state, we now have a basic party structure including the panna pramukhs in as many as 80 per cent of booths, and we will complete this exercise by February 15,” Sanjay told DH on the sidelines of the NEC.
As part of its preparations, the party is planning to send in union home minister Amit Shah in March or April for a massive rally in the state, where a chargesheet of the KCR government will be released.
Sanjay’s Praja Sangrama Yatra found special mention at the meeting of the party’s top organisational body, and Modi asked other state leaders to emulate the work in Telangana as well as Gujarat, where the BJP tore through 27 years of anti-incumbency to win over 1556 of the state’s 182 seats.
The state president further said right after the booth-strengthening exercise is finished, the party plans to hold public meetings across three major categories. This includes village-level meetings across 10,000 locations where the party hopes to ensure the participation of at least 150 individuals in each location.
Then meetings across assembly segments and districts, where the party plans to bring in at least 1500 and 10000 voters in each category. Central leaders and union ministers will be part of the meetings in assemblies and districts.
“In these meetings, we will tell the people about the undemocratic actions of the KCR government, BRS’s dynastic politics, corruption cases and dictatorial abuse of power,” Sanjay told DH.
The BJP is intensifying its efforts in Telangana, where it has seen an opportunity to reach out to the electorate in the South since its sole government is in Karnataka in the region. The BJP has a 10-month-long roadmap for Telangana, which heads to the polls in December. Party leaders will replicate the state units' efforts in other states, like Rajasthan, and Odisha, where it is not in power currently.