BJP starts regrouping to repeat 2014 victory in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

In the wake of its performance in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started reworking its strategy to repeat a 2014-like victory in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The party said it plans to win over all sections of the society — youth, women, students, the business community, middle class, poor, farmers, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities etc. in the coming months to defeat Congress and other regional players.

Reflecting on recent results, a senior party leader said — "In both, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, our core vote base remains intact. In Chhattisgarh, we need to re-strategise to win over our lost vote base."

Data shows that in all the three states, the party has lost its vote share not only in the rural areas but also in the urban pockets. In Chhattisgarh, the drop in both rural and urban vote share is significant.

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Learning from the elections results, the BJP is working on a strategy to increase its strike rate in both rural and urban pockets. If sources are to be believed, the PM Modi government is likely to announce a massive Rs 4 lakh crore farm loan waivers to win back the trust of rural voters across the country.

The changes in the party's strategy are expected to reflect amply after BJP the two-day crucial national council meeting of the BJP on January 11-12, 2019.

Besides, several other meetings of the party's different wings are lined up in the next three months. These meetings will discuss the blueprint of 'intensive outreach campaign' to reach out different sections of society, party sources said.

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The BJP has decided to rally behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi by highlighting the policy initiatives taken during his tenure.

"GST, Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, Ayushman Bharat, Ease of Doing Business, Jan-Dhan, Murdra, Ujjwala, PaHaL, UDAY — the Modi government has taken a series of initiates to transform the lives of the people. The party will take the government's success stories to the people. During interactions, our karyakartas will explain to the people why the Modi government must be voted back," said a senior party functionary.

The party will woo voters through PM Modi's "sheet anchor of governance" — 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' plank, said another leader.

The party maintains that the recent Assembly election results are not a referendum against the government and PM Modi's popularity is very much intact and can swing votes.

"Where is the alternative of PM Modi and BJP?" asked party general secretary P Muralidhar Rao.

The BJP is also working on booth-level strengthening exercise and is also going to speed up its ongoing membership drive.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has been tasked to win over the youth and first-time voters. The Yuva Morcha is planning to create a huge volunteer network in the next two-three months.

Taking a leap in the use of digital media, the BJP has taken its digital media activities up to the village level this time. The party has conducted several training sessions of karyakartas up to the district level on how to use digital media to woo voters.

"These cyber warriors are working overtime to carry forward the good work done by the Modi government right up to grassroots," said a party insider aware about the development.

Party sources said that the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections results show that a sizable chunk of the business community turned against the BJP. They have big plans to win back the business community. Coincidentally, on Thursday, Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting of the bureaucrats to review the progress with regard to Ease of Doing Business.

BJP ideologue and senior journalist R Balashankar said, "Voters will look at both, the Assembly and the general elections, differently."

The BJP is working hard to repeat its 2014 Lok Sabha elections performance in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. In addition, the party is also eyeing unconquered territories from south to northeast.

The defeat of Shivraj Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh has multiplied the BJP's dependence on PM Modi as a vote-getter.

BJP insiders say that PM Modi and party's national president Amit Shah helped recover a lot of lost ground in Rajasthan in the face of massive anti-incumbency against Raje.

BJP sources maintain that for 2019 elections, it has set a target of winning 400+ seats. Apart from retaining the Lok Sabha seats the party had won in 2014, the BJP has identified as many as 120 "winnable seats."

In two Assembly elections — 2008 and 2013 — BJP's start campaigner, PM Modi, had hammered the Congress. The saffron party rode on the failures of the UPA government at the Centre and defeated Congress in three states.

Despite Congress wiping out a major chunk of vote share deficit in the previous election, some analysts say that Modi remains a force to reckon with, especially when coupled with Shah.

TRIVIA

• First Lok Sabha (1952-57)
  First ever elections were held for 489 seats after Independence. The total number of eligible voters were close to 17 crore. Jawaharlal Nehru was elected Independent India’s first Prime Minister.
   
• Sixth Lok Sabha (1977-79)
  These were the first elections after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency in 1975. Bharatiya Lok Dal (or the Janata Party) had defeated the Congress for the first time. 
   
• Seventh Lok Sabha (1980-84)
  No Leader of Opposition (LoP). Congress(I), under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, won 353 of the 529 seats.
   
• Ninth Lok Sabha (1989-91)
  There was a hung House for the first time with no party getting a majority. The Janata Dal formed the National Front government with outside support from BJP and the Left parties. General elections were held in just 2 years.
   
• Tenth Lok Sabha (1991-96)
  Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in the run up to the 1991 general elections by the LTTE. These elections were also termed as the ‘Mandal-Mandir’ elections. The name was given after the two most important election issues — the Mandal Commission and the Babri Masjid issue.

EVERY VOTE MATTERS

The most intriguing and closest of the no-confidence motion happened in 1999 when the Vajpayee government lost the no-confidence motion by just 1 vote which led to its fall