Over 8,000 public meetings in three months, a team of professionals to chart out area-specific issues and social media to reach out to people are the major components of the BJP's campaign strategy for the Assembly elections this winter.
The party would make the beginning on May 25 by launching its public meeting programme, which entails one meeting in each of the 243 Assembly constituencies by June 15. Thereafter, similar kind of public meetings would be organised in all the 8,398 panchayats by end-August.
Apart from state leaders, some national leaders might take part in these meetings, the details of which are being worked out.
"It is like going the whole hog, a typical style of Amit Shah, who believes in giving more than 100 per cent when it comes to election preparations," a BJP commissar, requesting anonymity, told The Telegraph.
While the party would reach out to the grassroots-level through its public meetings, party seniors would simultaneously work to iron out the factionalism in the state unit, which may hamper the BJP's prospect in the Assembly elections.
"Here again, the Amit Shah style would come into play. He himself made the beginning by interacting directly with the party's grassroots workers as well as office-bearers to get an understanding of the issues which they thought were not being addressed. This would be a continuous process till the elections," said another BJP leader, adding: "It is a kind of subtle message to local leaders as well who would ignore the workers' point at their own peril as the national president would take feedback directly. He does not tolerate those who create any kind of communication gap in the organisational set-up."
The BJP leader's claim appears genuine, as one of the party apparatchiks at its Patna office claimed. "Shah sir is a hard task master but a very good listener. He gives space to even small workers while collecting feedback for finalising his strategy," said the BJP worker.
Political workers apart, the BJP would draft a team of young professionals as well, which would be given the task of charting out the issues after consulting local leaders and the masses, for different areas. "These issues would be highlighted when party seniors come to the state to campaign for NDA candidates."
The Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party are the NDA constituents in Bihar.
BJP sources indicated that there was every chance that the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led party, too, would become part of this alliance.
"For now, Manjhi's future strategy is not clear but we are not ruling out the possibility of his political party contesting elections under our umbrella," said a BJP senior leader, who has played an instrumental role in the NDA's functioning at the state-level.
The leader added that the BJP had also kept its internal exercise of deciding the number of seats on which the party was planning to contest on hold.
"Earlier, we were planning to contest 175 seats, leaving the remaining ones for alliance partners but two factors have prevented us from finalising things. First, the possibility of Manjhi's party coming under the NDA umbrella and second, the merger of JDU and RJD in the Janata parivar, as this would definitely affect the voting pattern and things would have to be finalised accordingly." The team of professionals would also be used for using the social media to conduct the BJP campaign among netizens.
"Few private houses of senior BJP leaders have been identified in Patna from where these professionals would work. They won't be kept in any hotel, as it is accessible to all and the party wants to keep these professionals away from media glare," said the senior BJP leader.
He said Shah's frequency of visits to the state would increase and their details were being worked out.
"For us, the match has begun. It hardly matters whether the Opposition has taken the field or not. We are there to slog it out in the hope of a positive result," said the BJP leader, who keenly follows the IPL.
Reacting to BJP's plans, a senior RJD leader said: "It would definitely give the BJP an advantage in terms of campaigning as the formalities regarding the merger of Janata parivar parties is still going on. But in Bihar, where several factors other than issues concerning people come into play at the time of elections, one cannot be sure that this advantage would be reflected in seat numbers as well."
