New Delhi:
With the parliamentary polls over, both of India's major political parties have turned their attention to the all-important Lok Sabha elections, which are less than four months away. This was confirmed by two important rallies held by the BJP and Congress on Saturday, which also reflected the very different positions the parties find themselves in.
While at the two-day BJP meeting of national office bearers, which ended on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged workers to prepare for the campaign and the party set a target of polling 35 crore votes in the 2024 elections, it was the conference meeting was aimed at working out seat-sharing with allies from the INDIA bloc, which was created to absorb the ruling party.
'Mission Mode'
At the BJP meeting of national office bearers and state presidents, which began on Friday, Prime Minister Modi asked the workers to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections in mission mode. Sources said the Prime Minister had also set a target for the party to win 35 crore votes in the 2024 elections, against the 22.9 crore it managed in 2019.
According to the sources, the BJP meeting also focused on the inauguration of the Ram temple on January 22. It was decided that the workers would be asked to spread as much information as possible about the Ram Temple on social media platforms and hold discussions about it. They will also be instructed to arrange live telecast of the inauguration ceremony in their respective areas on January 22 and organize post-inauguration visits to Ayodhya for people from each state.
“To achieve the increase in votes, a strategy was formulated to reach out to 7 crore beneficiaries of various government schemes,” a source said.
Prime Minister Modi will address the youth across the country in January and it has been decided to launch a campaign to reach out to women, youth, farmers and the poor.
The employees will also be asked to interact with every voter at booth level, visit their homes and meet them. One of the key issues they have been asked to discuss is India's growing power on the world stage, the sources said.
Alliance panel meeting
The Congress National Alliance Committee held its first meeting on Saturday. The five-member panel was formed earlier this week to discuss seat distribution and alliances with other political parties from the INDIA bloc for the 2024 elections. Mukul Wasnik is the chairman and the other members are Union Minister Salman Khurshid, former chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, and Mohan Prakash.
After the meeting, Mr Wasnik said: “We will talk to the state units first. We will decide on a seat-sharing formula soon. No deadline has been set for this. But we will decide as soon as possible,” he said .
The Congress has been criticized by some INDIA allies following its election defeats in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, who have also said the party should be more accommodating in seat-sharing talks.