BJP braces for early general election

The party is working on a possible February date assuming that the EC will not be in a position to hold the poll before this.

Amid campaigning for the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a formal exercise to gear up for the general election, to be held next year.

The party’s prime-ministerial nominee, LK Advani, and president Rajnath Singh have been brainstorming with the state units. Each session, lasting several hours, is aimed at finalising the preparations and strategy for the Lok Sabha election.

According to party sources, leaders of at least five states have already conferred with Advani and Singh while meetings with other state units have been scheduled in the coming weeks.

The five states where Assembly elections are to be held are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

The BJP is working on a possible February date for the general election assuming that the Election Commission will not be in a position to hold the poll before this. “The electoral rolls will be ready only by mid-December, which makes election possible only by February-end,” a senior BJP leader told Business Standard.

Advani has reportedly told state party leaders to draw their independent strategy and lists of nominees and seats on which the party will field its candidates within a few weeks.

“We were clearly told that unless we can have (polling) booth committees in place for each constituency, we should not even dream of fielding a candidate,” said a state party leader.

A BJP national executive member who attended one such meeting on behalf of Andhra Pradesh said she found “81-year-old Advani too alert to let anyone indulge in rhetoric”. She claimed “the meetings are serious business where the leaders want us to come up with issues to be projected in the campaign and a clear election strategy”.

The state units have also been asked to give their requisition for visits by the central party leaders for the election campaign.

Singh has been moderating the sessions, where senior leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj are also present. Joshi, in the meanwhile, has been entrusted with the job of finalising the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha election.