BJP to focus on new 'Modi votes'

After the success of 'Modi wave' in 2014, the BJP is once again banking on the Modi factor this time too highlighting the programmes implemented by the BJP government at Centre, to create new voters for it, in addition to its traditional voters.

"We have traditional voters for the BJP, who like nationalist and non-corrupt principles of the party. In the last five years, the BJP government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has implemented various new welfare schemes which has benefited 22 crore people in the country. Most of them are poor and depressed who are not traditional voters of the BJP, but they like Modi. More focus should be given to convince them to vote for the BJP," said BJP national general secretary Muralidhar Rao, who is also in-charge of the party's affairs in Karnataka.

Terming the party's traditional voters as 'BJP voters', and potential or sympathiser voters as 'Modi voters', Rao asked the BJP leaders to consolidate traditional votes, and to get new or potential votes also for the BJP. If this happens, we can easily win 300 seats, including 22 seats in the State, he said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the BJP's divisional-level Shakti Kendra trainers' training workshop held here on Friday, he asked the party leaders to tell the booth-level workers to highlight the achievements of Modi government while seeking votes, and not to speak much about candidates or other parties.

'Modi tsunami'

"Mega rallies create an atmosphere in favour of the party, but booth-level workers bring actual votes during the elections, by convincing the voters. The Modi government is getting more and more support in last four months, and the voters have started thinking above caste and other limitations even in places like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, no other coalition can defeat the BJP," Rao predicted, saying that a 'tsunami of support' is coming for Modi.

With early preparations for the elections, the BJP is working harder for polls this time than the elections in 2014. The BJP candidate selection process is inclusive, as all concerned are being consulted. Candidates would be announced after the Lok Sabha election dates are announced, he added.

'Win Chikkodi too'

Inaugurating the workshop, MLA Jagadish Shettar noted that the Mumbai-Karnataka region is a stronghold of the BJP. Among the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the region, we could not win only Chikkodi constituency in 2014, and we should win that too this time, he noted.

Terming Congress and JD(S) as family parties, Shettar noted that the country is above everything for the BJP. Due to the quarrels in the coalition government in the State, the Congress itself would topple the government after the Lok Sabha elections, and nobody else is needed for this work, he added.

MPs Pralhad Joshi, Shivakumar Udasi and P C Gaddigoudar, BJP leaders C M Udasi, Aravind Limbavali, Ma Nagaraj, B L Santhosh, and others were present.

BJP leaders including MLAs and MLCs from Dharwad, Haveri-Gadag, Bagalkot, Vijayapur, Belagavi, Chikkodi, and Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituencies attended the workshop.