NEW DELHI: The BJP is strategizing to get more than 70 per cent of total OBCs votes in the Lok Sabha elections. With a higher representation of the section in the Union cabinet and other sectors of government, the party is projecting itself as a champion of the OBCs.
Dr K Laxman, president of the party’s OBC Morcha said the Modi government has delivered on fulfilling the aspirations of the backward classes. “We are making the people aware about the government’s initiative on 27 per cent OBC reservation in NEET (UG) and NEET (PG) entrance exams under the all-India quotas,” Laxman said. The OBC Morcha has organised around 8,000 ‘Samajik Sammelan’ (conferences) of OBCs across the country.
“We have set a target of organising more than 10,000 such meets ahead of the LS polls,” Laxman told this newspaper on Sunday.
Such Sammelans, at least 20 of them, will be organised in constituencies dominated by OBCs in the country. The party has covered 1 lakh villages, including more than 20,000 in UP alone, in its drive called ‘Gaon Gaon Chalo Ghar Ghar Chalo’ to woo the OBC voters.
“The OBCs play a deciding role in results across 350-400 LS seats. The works done by our government over the last 10 years have helped us awaken the OBCs. The party is set to gain 80-90 per cent of these votes this time thanks to our government’s goodwill among them”, he said.
Nikhil Anand, national general secretary of the OBC Morcha, told this newspaper that the BJP has given around 50% of total nominations to OBCs this time. Citing figures, he said the party has 29 per cent of total LS MPs, 27% of 1,358 MLAs and 40% of total MLCs from the OBCs. “In each Lok Sabha constituency, at least 25 OBC units functioning in the country are taking the works of government to the people of this section,” said Anand.
A senior BJP functionary said the castes coming under the OBCs are being approached continuously by the Morcha workers in many South Indian states such as Karnataka and Telangana. “With as many as 27 OBC ministers in the Modi cabinet, we have established the party’s credibility amongst the OBCs. States like Bihar, UP, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, besides others, have a significant population of OBCs,” he said, adding the party has reached out to them through a sustained campaign in the last one year.
Decisive voice in 350 LS seats
Dr K Laxman, president of the party’s OBC Morcha says the OBCs play a deciding role in results across 350-400 LS seats. The works done by our government over the last 10 years have helped us awaken the OBCs. The party is set to gain 80-90 per cent of these votes this time thanks to our government’s goodwill among them.