Weekends will not be about just mall-hopping or movies for a group of more than 1,000 techies, doctors, lawyers and other professionals in Bangalore who have formed a group called ‘Friends of BJP’.
The group, very active on social media, is determined to play a significant role in realising the BJP’s mission of winning 272 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls and making Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the Prime Minister.
“These professionals will visit villages within a 200-km radius and explain why the UPA government has to be defeated and why Modi needs to be made the next prime minister,” BJP Communication and IT cell convener Channa Mallikarjuna told Express.
Some of them are even prepared to take two- to three-month sabbaticals during the elections to campaign for Modi, Mallikarjuna added.
The Congress, meanwhile, is chalking out plans to expose the “Modi myths” being woven by the Sangh Parivar. While the BJP is looking at social media in a big way for its propaganda, the Congress has decided to launch a massive grassroots-level awareness campaign to “rip Modi apart”.
The BJP will not provide the ‘Friends’ any facilities, only three sets of pamphlets, Mallikarjuna said.
One will explain the party’s history and ideology, while another titled ‘100 and Not Out’ will list the “scandals that have tumbled out of the UPA government’s cupboard”. The third pamphlet will present Modi’s “achievements” in Gujarat and compare achievements of the earlier NDA government with those of the UPA.
The ‘Friends’ will go out in groups in their own vehicles and make their own arrangements for stay and food. “Already around 1,000 professionals and MBA, CA and MTech students have registered for the village yatra. Details of the programme will be chalked out at the ‘Friends of BJP’ in
Karnataka conclave to be held in Bangalore on Sunday. The groups will hit the road in a big way starting from October 26,” Mallikarjuna said.
The conclave will also draw up plans for ‘Friends’ to launch door-to-door contact programmes
in cities like Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore to meet young voters and highlight the “bad governance” of the UPA government. They will highlight how Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi “have destroyed the stature of the office
of the Prime Minister, and the need to come out and vote for a change to save the country”, Mallikarjuna added.
Explaining the Congress’ plans, KPCC president G Parameshwara told Express that Modi’s tenure has pushed Gujarat into a debt trap.
“The state had a debt burden of about Rs10,000 crore when he took over as Chief Minister. It has now shot up to Rs 1.38 lakh crore,” Parameshwara said. Gujarat ranks 18th in the country in quality of health services and its performance in education too is poor, with a rank of 12, he added. “We will explain all these facts to call Modi’s bluff,” Parameshwara said.