BJP to Appoint Head for each 543 Lok Sabha Seat before 2019 LS Elections

This is for the first time that the BJP has appointed an in-charge for every Lok Sabha seat - a model that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been following for years.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will appoint an in-charge for each of the 543 Lok Sabha segments and set up an 11-member committee in every state to start preparation for the next year’s parliamentary elections, two party leaders privy to the matter said.

These in-charge, or prabhari, will be from outside the Lok Sabha constituency which they will oversee, the first leader said. The 11-member panel will be called “Chunav Taiyari Toli” (election preparation group) and will look after 13 specific assignments related to the state, the second leader said.

This is for the first time that the BJP has appointed an in-charge for every Lok Sabha seat - a model that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been following for years - and such a specific team has been deployed in each state to prepare the ground for Parliamentary elections, the two leaders said.

“We are getting ready for polls,” first leader said. “The earlier we start preparing, the better the understanding we will have of our strengths and weaknesses. The party intends to win in 2019 with a margin bigger than in 2014.”

“The Modi-Shah duo lay a great focus on organisational work,” the second leader said. “The entire exercise is to fine-tune the organisation for the next challenge.”

BJP president Amit Shah has begun a tour of all states, starting with Chhattisgarh on June 10, and plans to visit each state by the end of July to review the preparedness of each state unit for the general election.

The BJP faces a challenge in some of the states with opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) coming together in Karnataka. The BJP intends to neutralise this threat by taking a first-mover advantage.

Each state unit has been asked to prepare a detailed report on relevant social issues, the political situation, the strategy of the opposition, the possibility of alliances, and the names of those who benefited from central schemes. The units have also been asked to check the backgrounds of those who intend to join the party in the coming months. These details need to be ready before Shah’s visits, the second leader said.

Apart from a prabhari, each parliamentary constituency will also get a three-member social media team, a three-member team to engage with the media, a legal team of three, and a two-member team for monitoring the implementation of central and state schemes, the first leader said.

During his visits to different states, Shah will hold brainstorming sessions with the 11-member poll team, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh parivar, full-time volunteers engaged in expansion work and with the person in charge of those Lok Sabha seats in a state that the BJP could not win last time.

Each general secretary of the party has been assigned specific states to follow up on after Shah’s visit is over, the second leader said.
Source: HT

Bengal BJP to Submit Lok Sabha Blueprint targeting 26 Seats to Amit Shah

KOLKATA: Buoyed by its performance in the rural polls, the West Bengal BJP unit is set to submit its Lok Sabha blueprint, targeting 26 parliamentary seats in the state, to party president Amit Shah during his visit to the state this week.

Shah is scheduled to arrive in West Bengal on a two-day visit from June 27 during which he is expected to hold deliberations on the BJP's political strategy with leaders of the state, where the saffron party is toiling hard to improve its tally in the upcoming general elections.

The BJP president had set the target of winning 22 seats out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal.

The party presently has two Lok Sabha seats -- Asansol and Darjeeling -- in the state.

"We will submit our complete report to Amit Shah. He had given us a target of 22 seats, but if the elections are held in a fair manner, we are in a position to win at least 26 seats," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told PTI.

"We will submit our strategy report to him and restructure it according to his instructions," he said.

Although the state leadership is elated over its performance in the recent panchayat polls, it is having a tough time in scouting for answers over its "inability" to constitute committees in more than 77,000 polling stations of the state and bring intellectuals on board for campaigns.

The 26 seats where the BJP's chances of winning is more than 60 to 70 per cent are spread across North Bengal, South Bengal and tribal-dominated districts of Junglemahal, said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity.

Some of seats which the BJP will be targeting in the next Lok Sabha polls are Balurghat, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Malda North in North Bengal and Purulia, Jhargram, Medinipur, Krishnagar, Howrah in South Bengal.

The state unit in its report has also mentioned about Asansol Lok Sabha seat that it had won the last time but showed apprehensiveness about the Darjeeling seat following the change in political equation in the Hills, where the present GJM leadership, under Binay Tamang, is more inclined towards ruling TMC, said the BJP leader.

According to Ghosh, the performance of BJP in the last month's panchayat polls despite ruling TMC's "reign of terror", has accelerated the ground-level political situation of the state.

The party has also appointed observers for each of the 42 Lok Sabha seats as well as the assembly seats in the state to strengthen the organisation at the booth level.

Be it tribal-dominated districts like Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore, Bankura or districts in North Bengal such as Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur or Muslim-dominated Malda, the saffron party's performance in rural polls has cemented its position as the main opposition in the state by relegating the CPI(M) and the Congress to distant third and fourth positions respectively.

However, the gap between the ruling TMC and the surging BJP is still wide, if the overall rural polls and assembly bypoll results were to be taken into consideration.

According to the state leadership, Shah will also seek a report on the creation of committees at all booths, a target he had set during his visit in September last year.

"We have been able to reach out to 60-70 percent booths. Our primary objective is to take our organisation to all the booths of the state and strengthen it," BJP national general secretary and in-charge of Bengal, Kailash Vijayvergiya, told PTI.

Ghosh, however, claimed that after rural polls, the party has been able to cover 85 per cent booths in the state.

"We have not been able to reach out to all the booths, especially the minority-dominated districts of Malda, Murshidabad. We have a support base, but no one is ready to man the booth committees fearing backlash by the TMC. We hope things will change in the days to come," Ghosh said.

On the issue of roping in intellectuals, who act as catalysts in creating public opinion and has been a notable factor in decimating the 34-year-old Left Regime, the state unit is yet to taste considerable success.

The party's central leadership has stressed the need to rope in intellectuals and had asked the state unit to create an IT cell. Shah, during his visit, is scheduled to address a meet of intellectuals.

"We have met more than 500 intellectuals in the last few months but not many of them have come forward to join us. During the last two intellectuals' meet, we have not been able to rope anyone prominent. We hope things are different this time," said another BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

Ghosh along with a senior BJP central leader had approached Samir Aich, an eminent painter, and requested him to attend the intellectuals meet.
Source: TOI

AAP, Congress likely to Join Hands in Delhi ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections

NEW DELHI: As political parties are gearing up for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, another Congress-triggered alliance is taking its shape to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Following the 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar assembly elections of 2015 and the recent Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in Karnataka, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are in talks of a coalition in Delhi.

Reports suggest that informal talks between the grand old party and AAP initiated on May 24, with Jairam Ramesh and Ajay Maken representing the former.

Reportedly, the AAP approached the Congress for the alliance, with an offer of a 5:2 ratio for seat sharing in Delhi - five seats for the AAP and two for the Congress.

The Congress party, however, demanded three out of the seven seats, which are - New Delhi for Sharmishtha Mukherjee, Chandni Chowk for Ajay Maken and North West Delhi for Rajkumar Chauhan.

The speculations about the rumoured alliance got a further boost after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday praised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Twitter.

Launching an attack on PM Modi, the AAP leader had said that people are missing an educated PM like Manmohan Singh. "People missing an educated PM like Dr Manmohan Singh," Kejriwal had tweeted.

It is worthy to note that Kejriwal had earlier been a strong critic of Manmohan Singh going as far as to say in 2013 that, "Manmohan failed to check corruption within Congress and his own government".

BJP's ever-expanding wings in the country have, however, now made once bitter foes, the best of friends.
Source: zeenews.india.com

PM Modi to Kickstart 2019 Lok Sabha Election Campaign with Unveiling of Statue of Unity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kickstart the campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha elections with unveiling of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat on October 31.

At a height of 182 meters, the Statue of Unity will be the tallest statue in the world. The unveiling of the statue will coincide with the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

With less than a year left for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aggressively marketing itself as the party that works for 'Vikas' (development).

The launch of the statue is a decisive move by the party as it aims to reach out to the vast voter base as well as to appease the Patidar community. It is believed that the launch of the statue will also have a massive branding campaign.

Invites will be sent to chief ministers across the country and to the leaders of various SAARC countries. South eastern countries other than Pakistan will also be invited for the event.

Narendra Modi, as the chief minister of Gujarat, had laid the foundation stone of the Sardar Patel statue on October 31, 2013. Modi had invoked nation-wide farmers to contribute scraps of iron for the statue. About 135 tonnes of iron scraps were accumulated after Modi's appeal.

In January, about 70 per cent of the construction was completed. The remaining work is under speedy progress.
Source: indiatoday.in

Despite Ire over Bullet Train, Tribals Stick to BJP ahead of 2019 General Elections

MUMBAI: Despite the tribal population of Palghar district being against the bullet train and Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, the BJP managed to garner votes from three of the four tribal dominated belts of Dahanu, Vikramgad and Palghar in the Lok Sabha constituency bypoll.

Both the Dahanu and Vikramgad assembly segments belong to the BJP. During campaigning, tribals from villages likely to be affected by the projects had lamented that the party had not come to them seeking their votes. The BJP overtook the Shiv Sena in vote share in the tribal pockets. The BJP got 49,181 votes in Dahanu, while their rival Sena got 38,778 votes. The CPM candidate Kiran Raja secured more votes than the Sena (42,517), despite the Sena promising to oppose the two projects.

Social activist and political observer Ramakant Patil said that those opposed to the projects voted for the Sena. The BJP got the Congress votes in the tribal pockets as their candidate Rajendra Gavit, was a Congressman till a month ago. Kaluram Pardhi, a tribal from Hanuman Nagar in Palghar, who is opposed to the projects said that the BJP did not campaign in the areas from where the bullet train and expressway is to pass.

In Boisar, where a large number of tribals are likely to be affected by the projects, the votes went to the Sena candidate Shrinivas Wanga. The Sena secured 49,991 votes in Boisar compared to BJP's 41,632 seats. Even the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) that has an MLA from Boisar had to settle with few seats (46,754).

In Palghar, despite it being a Sena stronghold went to the BJP (56,215 votes). Here too, said political observers the Congress votes were dropped into the BJP kitty. With Gavit ditching the Congress, the party had to settle for Damodar Shingada.

Political observers said that as it was prestige seat for the BJP, they focused on diverting every seat in their favour. "The BJP workers were going around the tribal belts and who ever could garner over 200 seats were being put in touch with the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis," said a political observer in Vikramgad. He said that even if the Sena had tied up with the CPM they could have defeated the BJP. The CPM got 71,887 votes.

Former Independent MLA from Vasai and once Sena sympathiser Vivek Pandit too went with the BJP. Infact, it was Pandit who had accompanied Gavit to meet Fadnavis. Political observers said that projecting Gavit as the BJP's face in the bypoll was Pandit's way of hoping for a assembly ticket in the next election. Pandit has a sizeable tribal following due to his NGO Shramajeevi Sanghatana but that could not translate into actual votes, said observers.

The urban population of Vasai-Virar voted for the BVA but also did not disappoint the BJP. Uddhav Thackeray's campaigning in Vasai did not translate into votes. The Sena got 27,265 votes in Nalasopara while the BJP got 37,623. The low voter turnout in Nalasopara (34.83%) despite having the maximum of 4.5 lakh voters cost the BVA. Nalasopara MLA Kshitij Thakur blamed the low turn out to the election being held on Monday, a working day.

Political observers said that despite the BJP win, they have come to realise that the Palghar LS seat is a Sena seat and any alliance with other parties can ensure its victory. Political observers said that Gavit's win does not ensure him a ticket in the 2019 LS polls. "If the BJP-Sena alliance happens, the ticket will go to the Sena. And will be the end of Gavit's political career," said a political observer.
Source: TOI

Hits & Misses: 4 Years of Narendra Modi Government ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls

Numbers can often be strung together to tell a story. But when each number has a story of its own, it is best to let them do their own talking: a reading of how the economy may play out in the fifth year of the Narendra Modi government.

Most governments get into election mode in the last year of its term. Narendra Modi’s government is different. The current dispensation has remained almost permanently in election mode, with the Prime Minister personally being involved in many state elections, with BJP often fighting these in Modi’s name, often without declaring a chief ministerial candidate.

Therefore, electoral signals have been spread out across the last four years of the government and mixed with economic reforms. The fifth year is not expected to be any different. No one really expects the government to be cautious either and expects it to pull out a few more rabbits out of the bag this year, too.

The key fact that has the government enthused is that India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world, and is likely to emerge as the fifth largest. The economy is expected to double in seven years. This is a good proposition for any government to work with, be it in its last year or the first.

6 Big Changes That Defined 4 Years of Modi:

Demonetisation
On November 8, 2016, the government announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in circulation would be withdrawn and new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes were issued. The move was reportedly aimed at targeting black money, though that narrative did change over the course of the year. The move sent shockwaves across the economy. Economic growth was subdued and several small businesses were shut. Some still argue that the economy is yet to recuperate from that shock. The currency in circulation has now steadily grown, and the government is pumping in new currency notes Currency with public on May 11, 2018 Rs 18,578 billion Currency with public on October 17, 2016 (before note ban) Rs 17,564 billion.

Unified Tax
India has been looking at a unified goods and services tax (GST) regime for almost two decades. The Modi government took it upon itself to push through the indirect taxes reform. The GST has more tax slabs that envisioned and has been revised multiple times. The small and medium businesses have complained that compliance has gone up while margins have come down. Teething troubles are still being ironed out.

Ease of Doing Business
One of the key parameters that the government wanted to improve was ease of doing business. Modi had made it clear that India’s ranking on the World Bank chart should improve. After slipping briefly, India managed to go up 30 places in the 2018 rankings.

Thinking Out of the Box
This government has tried to radically change how governance works in India. A look at some of those moves:

Demonetisation and GST are among the most radical moves.

The Budget date was changed to February 1. The advancement from the last day of the month was to ensure departments get more time to spend the money allocated to them.

The Railway Budget, an annual event of great political opportunism, was done away with. The portfolio was used as a bargaining chip in coalition politics.

Planning Commission was replaced with NITI Aayog - Conflicting ministries were brought under one minister like steel and mines or coal and power.

Process started for privatisation of Air India - The insolvency and bankruptcy code implemented in 2016 laid out the rules for a court-monitored time-bound process of dealing with bad loans. This has led to Rs 4 lakh crore worth of recoveries.

Expanding Political Base
Politically, BJP has expanded its footprint across India during the past four years. It had a government in seven states in May 2014 — the Modi government was sworn in on May 26. Today, it either heads the government or is part of the ruling coalition in 22 states. Major electoral gains include Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. It also emerged as the single largest party in the recent Karnataka polls but fell short of getting the numbers to form a government.

Source: EconomicTimes

Times Now Opinion Survey on 4-Year Modi Government-55% Want NDA Back

Chrome Data Analytics and Media conducted an exclusive Opinion Survey to gauge the popularity of the Modi government. The #NaMoPopularitySurvey posed eight questions before the respondents to understand the public’s mood on Modi Sarkar’s four years of governance.

New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes four years in office on May 26, entering the final 12 months of its tenure before the 2019 General Elections. Will PM Modi be able to win a re-election in 2019? Is his popularity intact after spending four years in office?

How has his government fared in the eyes of the people of India? Chrome Data Analytics and Media conducted an exclusive Opinion Survey to gauge the popularity of the Modi government. The #NaMoPopularitySurvey posed eight questions before the respondents to understand the public’s mood on Modi Sarkar’s four years of governance.

- Seat projection All India | Total Lok Sabha seats – 543
BJP: Seats won in 2014 – 282 | Seat projection 2018 - 318

- Who would you like to see as PM in 2019?
Narendra Modi – 53% | Rahul Gandhi – 23% | Mamata Banerjee – 7% | Akhilesh Yadav – 6% | Mayawati – 5% | Arvind Kejriwal – 1% | Others – 3%

- Do you think NDA should get a second term?
Yes - 55% | No - 45%

- How do you rate inter faith relations over the last four years?
Improved – 30% | Stable – 32% | Worsened – 23% | Can’t say - 15%

- How do you perceive your job and income security?
Same as five years ago – 31% | Improved under NDA – 37% | Worse off now than before – 32%

- How have the last four years impacted your standard of living?
Improved a lot - 19% | Improved somewhat – 28% | Remained the same – 23% | Become worse - 14% | Become much worse – 11% | No response - 5%

- How do you rate four years of Modi sarkar?
Excellent - 23% | Good - 26% | Average - 27% | Bad - 24%

- The Opinion Survey has been conducted in collaboration with Chrome Data Analytics and Media. It was conducted between May 9 and 22, 2018. There were a total of 13,575 respondents across all states and Union Territories.
Source: TimesNow