BJP opts for the personal touch in Maharashtra Assembly polls

Prakash Javadekar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman in Maharashtra, is fond of quoting one particular Hindi idiom to describe his party's poll campaign in Maharashtra: "Doodh ka jala chhachh bhi phook phook ke pita hai (Once bitten twice shy)".

The bitter lessons learnt during the general elections, of "India not so shining" and "not feeling good at all" are being punishingly put to use in the state.

Therefore, its good-bye to SMS and computers. With BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan literally fighting to keep his job, walking shoes are out for an old fashioned door-to-door campaign.

"We are focusing on door-to-door campaigns although technology will be used in Mumbai and Pune," says Prakash Javadekar.

Javadekar admits that the 2004 General Elections have changed the way the BJP is strategising for Maharashtra. "We are focusing more on local issues, with each constituency being studied for its own key issue," says Javadekar.

The areas where the party will be focusing will be Western Maharashtra where the Congress-NCP has been unassailable till now. "In the last election we found that there were at least 40 seats where we increased our votes from just 5,000 to around 40,000," he said.

"We expect good results in Vidarbha, and Konkan," he adds. To help matters the BJP-Sena alliance will be financing some "independent candidates" in these areas as well, say sources.

The topmost issue though will be the anti-incumbency factor against the state government, with the BJP milking it for all it is worth.

"This strategy worked for us in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, in fact, we won seats in these states that neither the Jan Sangh nor BJP had won in the last 50 years," he added.

BJP strategists add that other issues like Savarkar and the tricolour will be secondary. "This time round there will be no one binding issue, no feel good or India Shining, we will fight a different election in every assembly constituency," said a senior party leader.

"We also peaked very early in the previous election, therefore we haven't asked any central leaders to fly into the state for meetings," said a senior state BJP leader.

"In fact we are keeping home-grown leaders like Bhai Girekar at the forefront rather than leaders who are seen very often on television," said the leader.

The earthy campaign is being run, surprisingly not from a "war room" but by old-fashioned party organisations.

Those touring the state to gauge the mood of the public are not using flow charts but gut instinct to home in on issues.

"This is a crucial election for us, we are treading cautiously, and best of all we have learnt from our past mistakes," adds Javadekar.