BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has decided to launch "Aama Sahara, Ama Unnati" programme as a counter to the booth level exercise of the BJP and keeping an eye on the urban local body polls scheduled next year.
Announcing the new programme at a meeting of party leaders at BJD state headquarters here, the chief minister the objective of the new programme will be similar to "Aama Gaon, Aama Bikash" campaign.
The ward committees of NACs and municipalities will have 50 members while the municipal corporations will have 100 members to implement the new programme.
The chief minister said the BJD had launched the campaign 'Aama Gaon, Aama Bikash' to carry forward the pro-development initiatives of the state government to every village of the state.
"People should know the good work being done by our Government, the transformation that is happening in infrastructure, livelihood and social sectors," he said and added that through this the party should effectively counter the misinformation campaign by opposition political parties.
The BJD supremo asked the leaders to complete extended executive body meetings at block and zonal level by the end of July.
The extended executive committee meetings have been completed in almost all districts. Stating that the focus should be on the gram panchayat level organisational work, Naveen said observers will be in place in every block from the first week of August.
The chief minister said the most important aspect of the whole exercise is to form ward level committees with 15 to 21 members depending on the size of the ward. He said that all frontal wing organisations should also be involved in the formation of committees.
The chief minister said the ward committees should be empowered with adequate information and given due importance while implementing development and social sector programmes. "Ward committees are the foot soldiers of the party and I want them to be truly representatives," he said and asked the district observers to send regular reports to the state committee.
Naveen said he will interact with many of the ward committees once they are constituted. BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra and coordinators of Aama Gaon Aama Bikash programme Bhupinder Singh and Debasis Samantray addressed the meeting.