VIJAYAWADA: WITH the TDP and the Congress almost hitching their wagons together, the BJP, which announced that it would fight the 2019 elections alone, has started preparing for the showdown. While the party administrative setup is almost in place, the State unit has now locked its focus on assessing its resources candidates and cadre constituency-wise. After being selected as the party’s State chief -- especially after the bitter split between TDP and NDA in March -- six months ago, Kanna Lakshminarayana finished touring the 13 districts twice. “While the first tour was to study the issues in the State, during the second tour we assessed the party’s strength in parliamentary clusters,” Lakshminarayana told TNIE.
In the short time he has, Lakshminarayana has adopted a two-pronged approach to lead the party. One, to put in place the State executive committees and cells, and two, to politically counter the continuous slander by the ruling TDP. Of course, he also had to deal with ‘groups’ within his own party, which have not extended immediate cooperation. However, the party is almost set and is raring to go, according to him. “In about five months, we built the party organisation, while also dealing with the drastically changing political dynamics. We are confident that the BJP will emerge as a key contender in the 2019 polls,” he asserted. The saffron party, which is practically aware of its current position in the State, is expecting that many people will join the BJP before the elections.
However, the party is keeping the cards close to its chest regarding the potential contenders. “ In fact, a lot of people are interested to join the party. Definitely, many people will join the party in the coming months,” he observed. At the moment, the party has 30 lakh membership base in the State. The BJP State unit, which is organising various programmes against the “corrupt governance” of the TDP, is being ably backed by the party’s central office.