NEW DELHI: In a major change in poll strategy, the BJP has decided not to field PM Narendra Modi as the principal campaigner in the ongoing Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Instead, party chief Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and the local leadership would be at the forefront.
As a star campaigner, Modi used to address up to five rallies a day. But this time around, he will campaign only towards the end of the electioneering. This perhaps explains why the PM has until Sunday addressed only four rallies each in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh while he is yet to campaign in Rajasthan.
“Modi will carpet bomb in the last few days of the state elections,” said Pradeep Singh, a political commentator and BJP watcher.Just a few months ago in Karnataka, the last state elections before the ongoing one, Modi held 21 rallies. Last year in Gujarat, where the saffron party faced a resurgent Congress, he campaigned 34 times and was credited with having retrieved a lost cause.
Bigger plan for 2019
Political observers think the BJP does not want to ‘over-expose’ Modi just a few months before the Lok Sabha polls