Banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to gain power in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set a gruelling plan for him, scheduling three to four election meetings every day for 10 days.
The BJP is testing the waters in the multi-cornered contests for 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra and 90 in Haryana. Both the States go to polls on October 15.
Barely on his return from the United States, Mr. Modi will lend himself to the party, dividing time between Haryana and Maharashtra for electioneering from October 4-13. On Saturday Mr. Modi will address a rally in Karnal in Haryana followed by three election meetings in Kohlapur, Beed and Mumbai, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Wednesday.
After the party’s dismal performance in the recently held by-elections in nine States, the BJP has realised that it needs Mr. Modi to win seats. In the two States where no Chief Ministerial face has been projected, the party has coined a new slogan, “Chalo Chalen Modi Ke Saath” (Let’s go along with Modi) to woo voters.
Although the anti-incumbency factor against the Congress-ruled governments in both the States will give the BJP an edge, the party will showcase the Gujarat model under Mr. Modi as a symbol of “good governance and development,” the two planks on which the campaign is based. The party is also upbeat about Mr. Modi’s United States visit which it described as “very successful” and “historic.”
As part of the newly-formed Marg Darshak Mandal, senior party leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi played no part in the selection of candidates, but they will campaign for the party in the two States.
Senior leaders Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu will address election meetings in Haryana and Maharashtra. Nitin Gadkari will confine himself full-time in Maharashtra. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has already begun canvassing in Maharashtra.
BJP Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Anandiben Patel and Manohar Parrikar will also address rallies, mostly in Maharashtra where the stakes are high as the Shiv Sena, an old ally, is now a challenger alongside the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
