BJP leaders discuss strategy for upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls at state executive meet

BJP leaders on Saturday discussed the strategy to win the upcoming Gujarat elections and various ways to strengthen the saffron party's mass outreach during a meeting of the state executive here on Saturday.

Union Minister and the BJP's Gujarat in-charge Bhupender Yadav spoke about ensuring a grand victory for BJP in elections, due in December this year, which coincide with the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav."

State BJP president C R Paatil, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and state General Secretary Ratnakar were among party leaders and office-bearers who attended the meet organised in Surat after a gap of nearly 25 years, the party said.

Addressing the gathering, Yadav said there has been a growing awareness in terms of "manpower and defence power" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership in the country in the last eight years and in Gujarat in the last 25 years, a release stated. Modi had served as the chief minister of Gujarat before his elevation to the Centre in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The Union minister further said that in the last eight years, there has been a "radical change" in the country in terms of knowledge power and thanked the prime minister for the country's progress in the education sector.

The goal of a party worker should be mission-based to take India forward, he said. Speaking about the BJP's organisational strategy, Paatil said 67 lakh forms were filled for the appointment of the page committee under a programme.

The Gujarat BJP's "one day one district" initiative is the first experiment in the country, which was appreciated by the prime minister at the national executive meeting, with a call to make it a nationwide programme. 'One Day, One District' drive is aimed at reaching out to maximum people on the ground.

Talking about campaigning for polls, Paatil said he had travelled 1.32 lakh km in the last two years to conduct 841 programmes across Gujarat.

The distance is equivalent to orbiting the Earth three times, he added. In yet another first experiment in the country for a party, a database of all the workers and voters of Gujarat has been fed in an application with information collected from more than 50 lakh families across 52,000 booths with the identity of voters and government schemes they benefited from, Paatil said.

"Nearly 15 lakh people have attended Modi's five big rallies organised in the last few months," he said, adding that the state had benefited from the "double engine" government, with farmers getting good prices for their crops.

State cabinet minister Jitu Vaghani talked about the "Vande Gujarat" campaign to reach out to voters by showcasing developmental works undertaken by the BJP government in the last 20 years.

"The "Vande Gujarat Rath'' flagged off by the chief minister on July 5 showcases more than 2,500 projects in the sectors of farming, industry, rural areas, tribal development, etc," he added.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 99 seats, a loss of 16 seats compared to the 2012 polls, in the 182-member House. Congress had improved its 2012 tally by 16 to win 77 seats.

This time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying to emerge as the main challenger to the BJP in Gujarat, the saffron bastion and the home state of PM Narendra Modi.