BHUBANESWAR: Even as the BJP is making tall claims of winning next year’s Assembly election, the saffron party is facing dearth of dedicated workers for micromanagement of polls in half of 36,000 booths in Odisha. This was observed by national BJP president Amit Shah during his recent stocktaking exercise here.Launching his “Mission 120+” in the State in September last year, Shah had given the task to the State leadership of the party to consolidate its position at the grassroots by forming booth level committees within three months. Even after eight months, the exercise remains incomplete.
“The party has not been able to form committees in 15,000 booths and this is primarily because of non-availability of dedicated workers at the village level,” admits a party insider.The problem is more acute in the coastal districts where the party organisation is very weak, the sources said adding, the desired drive from the party is lacking.Expressing displeasure over the slow pace at which the organisational works are moving, Shah is reported to have asked the State functionaries to complete the process by August 15 without fail.
As per the plan, each booth committee will have at least 23 members who will be headed by a booth president. Each gram panchayat in rural areas and Ward in urban areas will be treated as Shakti Kendra which will be supervised by two persons - Shakti Kendra Pramukh and Saha Sakti Kendra Pramuk.
On an average, one Parliamentary constituency will have nearly 400 Shakti Kandras which need to be managed by 800 dedicated workers. The job of the people in charge of the booth committees is to guide and motivate the member to meet voters and seek their support for the party.Though the State functionaries of the party have been assigned a few districts, some of them have shirked off their responsibilities, sources maintained. Shah is stated to have told the State party leaders that he will review the task he has given during his visit next month.