BJP president Amit Shah has asked party spokespersons to aggressively counter the Opposition’s criticism in the approaching election season, stressing the importance of winning the perception battle.

Shah held a closed-door meeting with party media heads and spokespersons from across the country on Sunday against the backdrop of opinion polls and internal feedback from election-bound Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh that suggest the BJP is up against simmering anti-incumbency.

The party president briefed them on how to build up a perception of BJP invincibility, BJP insiders said.

Trying to boost morale, Shah told his audience that feedback from the ground suggested the party was set to return to power with a bigger mandate.

“He told us that as spokespersons we have to firmly express the party’s position to counter the Opposition’s plan to vitiate the perception. He assured us that the party would win more than 300 seats in the general election,” a BJP spokesperson said.

Shah asked the party’s central media cell to depute efficient spokespersons and media managers from elsewhere to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

“Capable party leaders known for their media-managing skills will be deputed to all the states where elections are scheduled. Amitbhai stressed that the party had to take the lead in the perception battle,” a BJP source said.

Shah’s election strategy has almost invariably involved the unleashing of a large team of senior party leaders in the campaign arena. This time, sources said, he plans to do it on a larger scale.

Party leaders feel that the stakes are much higher this time, particularly in BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, with the Assembly polls there being widely seen as a “semi-final” before the general election.

“You will see an unprecedented kind of campaign in these states. We will totally eclipse the Congress,” a BJP politician said.

He added that the party’s top two leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, would “lead from the front” and ensure the voters are convinced the BJP is unbeatable.

The BJP, sources said, believes that the anti-incumbency against the party’s governments is very high in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, necessitating “extraordinary” measures to overcome it.

A recent C Voter-ABP News survey suggested that the BJP is likely to lose all three states. The BJP fears that such a contingency would be a huge blow to the party, especially in the perception stakes, ahead of the general election.

Internally, the party appears reconciled to the possibility of losing Rajasthan but feels it can retain Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.