BHUBANESWAR: With only 10 months remaining for the panchayat polls, the three main political parties - BJD, Congress and BJP - have started laying the groundwork to dominate the political space.
Though the BJD is ahead of its rivals, Congress and BJP have also launched programmes to reach out to the people in rural areas. “The BJD is far ahead of Congress and BJP in its preparation for the panchayat polls,” party spokesman and former minister Pratap Keshari Deb said.
The party has completed its organisational polls and constituted block committees. Besides, detail campaign programmes have been chalked out for Ministers, MLAs and senior leaders, Deb said and added that all the legislators including party president Naveen Patnaik will hit the road once the Budget session of the Assembly is over.
“We will approach the voters with the Government’s development agenda. We have already started the process and the MLAs will lead the campaign by camping in their respective constituencies,” Deb said.
Congress is preparing for a better show this time by launching a special membership drive from April 1. The drive will continue for two months during which Congress leaders will visit all villages of the State.
Presidents of the District Congress Committees (DCCs) and Block Congress Committees (BCCs), MLAs, party candidates in the last Assembly elections and senior leaders will be roped in during the campaign.
The party will constitute committees in all the 35,869 booths to make the grassroots-level organisation active. Mahila, Youth and Chhatra Congress units will also be actively involved in the campaign. Coordination committees will be set up from booth to district level keeping an eye on the panchayat polls. Campaign against liquor and increasing violence against women and children will be major planks of the Mahila Congress.
Not to be left behind, the State BJP will launch the Jana Kalyan campaign from April 7 in 15 organisational districts. BJP leaders and workers will create awareness about the initiatives taken by Narendra Modi Government at the Centre while highlighting the failures of the State Government. The campaign will be extended to other organisational districts subsequently.