BJP to launch campaign to make inroads in 52,000 UP panchayats

Gearing up for Uttar Pradesh Assembly election next year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to launch a massive outreach campaign covering 52,000 village panchayats in the state in an attempt to make deep inroads in rural areas and increase its base among Dalits and other backward castes (OBC).

"The Gram Swaraj Abhiyan campaign will be launched on April 14 and will continue till April 24, the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech will be broadcast live in all 52,000 gram panchayats," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told PTI.

BJP has already sent a message by appointing OBC leader Keshav Prasad Maurya as head of the state unit.

 

During the campaign, achievements of the Modi government would be highlighted along with the salient features of the Union budget. 'Samrasta' programme would be held from April 14, the birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, to April 16.

Pathak said a list of senior functionaries would be drawn to ensure that they visit at least 10 gram panchayats each.

Ahead of the campaign, the party plans to hold district level meetings and flag hoisting. During April 17-24, gram sabhas would be organised by district presidents and party incharges.

Pathak said that on April 24, the final day of the campaign which will be observed as 'panchayat diwas', senior functionaries and representative would hold gram panchayat in identified villages between 11 am to 12 noon and ensure live broadcast of the prime minister's speech in 'chaupals' in every village.

He said that the party has been directed that all MPs, MLAs and former elected representatives be informed in advance of the programme.

"It has been directed to provide booklets from state party office to all functionaries attending the programme," he said.

Special emphasis would be on gram panchayats where the party has not performed well in last Assembly election, Pathak said.

BJP had won 73 seats, including two by its ally, out of 80 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.