BJP frames roadmap to 144 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 after ‘weak’ feedback in half of them

A survey of 144 Lok Sabha seats identified by the Bharatiya Janata Party, where they did not perform well in the 2019 elections, has thrown up the feedback that it will be an uphill task for the party in 45-50 per cent of these seats.

On Tuesday, the party held two series of key meetings to analyse its position in seats where it was second or third in the 2019 general elections, and work out ways to bridge gaps. Leaders across the party hierarchy have been handed out tasks ahead for 2024.

In one meeting, senior party leaders including party president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, national general secretaries Bhupendar Yadav, Sunil Bansal and Union minister G Kishan Reddy spoke to senior party leaders and ministers who were given responsibilities of some of these seats.

In another meet, senior party leaders met in-charges of those seats to find out how the party is faring.

Sources part of the meeting told DH that, as per the feedback, most of the seats where the BJP is in a tough spot are from the south. Seats of a couple of Union ministers, including one from Bihar, are in danger. As per the assessment, the BJP will have to work hard to woo voters in Bihar and Maharashtra, two states it considers crucial.

"In some seats where Muslims are in majority, thankfully, we are not faring that bad. It could go either way in seats including Bijnor, Saharanpur and Nagina," a Union minister, part of the meeting, said on the sidelines of the meeting.

Union ministers were given responsibilities of clusters of these seats, and tasked with the party’s ‘pravas’ routine, in which the leader travels to the constituency and interacts with the people. On Tuesday's meeting, the Union ministers spoke about the future plans, the demographic segments to reach out to and other general strategies of the party.

Present in the meeting were Union ministers Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju, Smriti Irani, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Giriraj Singh, among others.

After Tuesday’s meeting, the party is going to hold meetings with booth committee workers of over 7,000 booths spread across these seats.

The party, looking to do better in south India this term, has swung into action, making organisational changes and doing routine brainstorming sessions.