The next step in BJP's campaign in Karnataka

With two lists of over 202 names of its candidates out, the Bharatiya Janata Party is rolling out a slew of steps in its next stage of campaigns. Mega rallies and road shows where PM Narendra Modi will be fielded across the state’s eight zones, booth exercises and meetings with various groups of people across 46,000 booths where the party has a presence, and, pushing out messages across a lakh WhatsApp groups, are high on its campaign agenda. The party’s manifesto will also be out within a week, said leaders.

The BJP’s list, which were released on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, have led to bitterness among those who have been denied tickets, and a party leader said that in the coming week, apart from filing nominations before April 20, placating these leaders will be a priority.

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Once the last day for the withdrawal of nominations is over on April 24, the party is likely to start road shows and mega rallies. PM Modi is likely to land in the state for his first rally a day after on April 25. The PM’s rallies are planned such that he reaches out to voters in Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Bijapur, Bellary, Chitradurga, Chikmagalur, and even Kolar, said a senior party functionary.

The party has been working on a booth-strengthening exercise, ensuring a minimum presence across 46,000 of the state’s 52,000 booths, said leaders, and workers have been directed to hold meetings in their respective booths. “We have appointed booth committees, page committees and a Shakti Kendra in-charge who is responsible for 4-5 booths each,” said a national general secretary of the party.

These in-charges have been asked to hold interactions, street corner meetings and baithaks with small brackets of 10-50 workers, said the leader. Apart from that, over a lakh WhatsApp groups, and each of these 46,000 booths have two such groups – one to reach out to workers and another for beneficiaries, the leader added.

Meetings will also be held with various social groups – SC/ST voters, OBC voters etc – as well as meetings with working-class voters. “We are also working on meetings with the state’s intellectuals across the main cities, and meetings with government employees,” the leader added.

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The party’s new deewar lekhan exercise, where senior party leaders, as well as local leaders, engage in writing the party’s campaign tagline across the walls of its offices, will be carried out in the state where party president JP Nadda and union home minister Amit Shah will participate.

Beneficiaries of the government’s schemes will also be targetted in a big way, like the party has done in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and on its list are the 52 lakh beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Scheme, 11 lakh beneficiaries of the Raitha Vidya Nidhi scheme, and the 39 lakh beneficiaries of the Nal Se Jal scheme, said leaders.