Patna: The BJP's youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) will felicitate young (under age 40) representatives of panchayati raj institutions at an event in the Bihar capital on January 28.
The BJYM on Wednesday announced the list of 5,000 mukhiyas, 7,000 ward members, 7,000 sarpanchs, 800 members of district boards and 4,400 ward councillors who will be invited to the function.
"Apart from making these representatives aware of the party philosophy, we will also spread the message about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's New India concept," said BJYM Bihar president Nitin Navin.
The event, Navin said, is part of the BJP's efforts to bring under its umbrella maximum number of youths for which local government representatives can be a big source.
"Association of youths would help us in the 2019 elections, as well as in expanding the base of the BJYM," Navin said.
BJYM national president Poonam Mahajan will attend the event.
Navin said BJYM functionaries would visit different parts of the state to personally invite the representatives for the function. For example, Navin will go to Darbhanga on Thursday to invite young local government representatives there.
"Last year, our national president Amit Shah had given a call for ensuring the party's presence right from the panchayat level to the Parliament," explained a BJP insider. "The panchayati raj representatives who would take part in the January 28 function would remain on the radar of the party and efforts would be made to bring them in the party fold in the long run. It would help the BJP spread its wings up to the grass-root level."
The BJP source said that during a recent meeting of the youth wing, party organisational general secretary Ram Lal had told BJYM state units to organise such functions to bring the young representatives under the BJP umbrella. "The Bihar unit of the BJYM is the first to organise such an event," added the source.
The BJP's internal assessment, the source said, is that around 13,000 of the invitees would attend the January 28 event.
