'Friends of BJP' to strive for Modi's election as PM

Outreach programmes to lure rural voters; social media to woo youth

It was an ‘engagement’ of a different kind at the Chamaraja Kalyana Mantap at Jayanagar in Bangalore on Sunday morning.

Assembled at the convention centre were hundreds of ‘volunteers’ who had come forward to register themselves with a forum christened ‘Friends of BJP’, whose present mission is to help the BJP win more than 272 seats on its own in the Lok Sabha polls and make Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the prime minister.

At the meeting, the volunteers, most of them professionals from various fields, chalked out a three-pronged strategy to take things forward. Firstly, the volunteers will embark on “outreach” programmes wherein they will visit villages during weekends, interact with people and brief them about the ideology of the BJP, the alleged misdeeds of the UPA government and highlight the Modi model of development.

“The BJP will provide the literature for the pamphlets. Otherwise, the volunteers will use their own resources for the outreach programme. We plan to start the programme by interacting with the villagers on the outskirts of Bangalore,” Channamallikarjuna, convener of the BJP Communication and IT Cell, said.

Internet, social media

The volunteers will also take up voters’ registration drive and make extensive use of the Internet and the social media to lure young voters to the BJP.

As many as 1,987 people registered themselves on Sunday. Mallikarjuna said that a similar volunteers’ convention will be held in other districts soon and at the Assembly constituency level at a later stage.

Inaugurating the convention, BJP national treasurer Piyush Goel said the verdict of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls would not just be a victory or loss for the BJP, but a victory or loss for the country.

“The misrule of the UPA government has taken the country to the brink of disaster. Defeating the UPA is the only way to get the country out of danger,” Goel said.

The BJP had nominated Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate following the surge of Gujarat under the latter’s leadership.  Modi would replicate the Gujarat success at the national level if voted to power, he said.

BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar likened the present situation in the country to the Emergency days of the 1970s and expressed confidence that the BJP would get full majority on its own.

BJP general secretary (organisation) Santosh urged the volunteers to draw up a programme for the next 180 days (till the 2014 Lok Sabha polls) to reach out to the people.