NEW DELHI: The BJP appears to have kicked off its campaign for Big Battle 2019 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaching out to beneficiaries of Central schemes and party chief Amit Shah setting out to make state units battle-ready. Having begun his outreach on the NAMO app a few months ago, Modi has now begun personally meeting the beneficiaries as part of a strategy to set the narrative for the 2019 general elections around the performance of the NDA government.
“The Prime Minister will be seen more often in various parts of the country where BJP-ruled chief ministers will be organising rallies of beneficiaries. The aim is to blunt the Opposition campaign that the NDA government has not delivered on promises on the ground. The number of beneficiaries converging at one place will counter the Opposition narrative that the promises made by the BJP in 2014 have not been kept,” said a senior BJP official.
As of now, the campaign is propped up by Modi’s outreach and Shah’s attempts to ramp up organisational strength. “The roles of Modi and Shah are clear, complementary and well targeted. The only weapon for the Opposition to derail the BJP in 2019 is to magnify performance gaps. True, 100 per cent delivery on the ground may not have happened. But the BJP can count on Modi and Shah to turn even 40 per cent delivery of performance into a winning mantra with their intensity,” the official added.
The BJP has also asked party leaders to fan out to their respective regions and stay put till the elections are over. “BJP MPs with organisational roles have been told that they should not be distracted by Parliament’s monsoon session and should focus on plugging gaps in their assigned regions,” a source said. The BJP is seeking to maximise electoral gains by exploiting the Congress tendency to activate its machinery only in times of elections. “Shah’s relentless outreach in states is part of the strategy to take advantage of the Congress going into sleep mode in times of no elections.
“That the Congress is essentially an election-oriented party is being exploited by the BJP, which remains politically mobilised at all times, searching for new constituencies and support base. Modi and Shah have set out to take an unbeatable lead with their respective campaigns,” the BJP leader said.