RAIPUR: The Schedule Castes wing (SC Morcha) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is organising a day-long brainstorming session in Chhattisgarh's capital on Tuesday to put together a road map for the party ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Apart from the state polls, the SC Morcha also aims to move forward with a focus on Lok Sabha elections due next year.
The BJP will strategically emphasise the electoral dynamics of Schedule Castes to connect strongly in the reserved 79 seats that remain significant in the states of Chhattisgarh (10), Madhya Pradesh (35) and Rajasthan (34).
According to senior BJP leaders, there will be around 80 senior SC party office bearers arriving from across the country including national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, national organiser V Satish and national BJP SC Morcha president Lal Singh Arya besides the organisation in charge of SC Morcha from 35 states.
"On completion of nine years in years in power, the party will highlight the major decisions and achievements of the Modi government aimed at the welfare of SC and how they can be propagated among the masses. The discourse will also bring out the atrocities faced by the SC community, particularly the Dalit women in the Congress-ruled states like Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan," said Navin Markandey, ex-MLA and state president of BJP SC Morcha.
The BJP remains concerned over the party's pathetic performance in Chhattisgarh in the 2018 state polls winning just two SC-reserved assembly seats while the ruling Congress had won seven seats. In 2013, the BJP had won nine SC-reserved assembly seats in the state.
Political observers cited that Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Chhattisgarh and adjoining Madhya Pradesh (MP) is apparently losing its footprints. "So the BJP might attempt to gain the trust of the supporters of BSP and also of the Congress," said Ashok Tomar, a political commentator, familiar with the regional caste politics.
"The meet will have an extensive impact on the forthcoming assembly polls particularly in Chhattisgarh. It will raise the morale of our cadres in the reserved SC seats," said Arun Sao, BJP state president.
In Rajasthan around eighteen per cent of the state’s population belongs to Scheduled Castes, while Madhya Prades has a population of around 16 per cent. With an eye on the SC voters, the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh recently started the statewide 'Sant Ravidas Samarasta Yatra'. The BJP had won 20 out of 35 SC-reserved assembly seats in the 2018 state elections.