BJP has chalked out its outreach plans for southern states ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the hand of the former chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yediyurappa, and walked alongside him during the inauguration of the airport in Shivamogga on February 27.

The airport was named after the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who had to step down from the helm of the state government in July 2021 to make way for younger leadership.

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The visual of Modi and Yediyurappa walking together was a telling reminder of the fact that the BJP would need to undo its mistakes for its foray into the South, which began from Karnataka.

For the BJP, a push into the southern region for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is not easy without a win in Karnataka.

The state is the party’s gateway to the South, its national general secretary and the OBC Morcha chief, K Laxman, says. “The people of Karnataka have seen the development agenda of the BJP. Under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the state government gave Rs 4000 on its own. Like the people of the northeastern region, South India, too, will accept the BJP,” he says.

In its national executive meeting in Hyderabad in July last year, the BJP passed a political resolution, stating that the southern states would be its next breakthrough area.

As part of its preparations for the 2024 elections, over 144 seats that the BJP lost in 2019 have been identified for renewed focus, with many of them being in the southern states and Bihar. After a survey in September last year showed that it would be an uphill task for the party in 45-50% of these seats, the number of seats the party would need to especially focus on was increased to 160.

Most of these seats, according to the party leaders involved in the process, are the ones that the party lost or gave up to an alliance. “If we manage at least 60 of them, it is a huge win,” says a senior party functionary.

The party is now chalking out detailed strategies for a concerted push. A team of 1000 ‘vistaraks’, who will be dedicated to these seats, has been constituted.

A Lok Sabha Pravas campaign has launched with the MPs being assigned seats where they would have to spend a night every fortnight. A detailed plan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tours to the constituencies has also been chalked out.

Every assembly segment of these parliamentary constituencies has 20,000 to 30,000 beneficiaries of the welfare schemes launched by the BJP government at the Centre. “We will reach out not only to those who have benefited but also to those who haven’t,” says another BJP leader.