NEW DELHI: Sensing that Other Backward Classes are electorally crucial, the BJP is bracing up to reclaim its support base among caste groups with a two-month-long campaign. With the attempted Opposition unity likely to consolidate the OBCs against the BJP, the saffron outfit would be seeking to drum up support for PM Narendra Modi’s backward-caste credentials.
The BJP held a session with OBC leaders to strategise against Opposition parties coming together, which could have electoral ramifications for the saffron outfit.
“Under the supervision of BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao, OBC leaders, including Uttar Pradesh ministers SPS Baghel and Dara Singh Chouhan, brainstormed over campaign strategies beginning July, which would conclude on August 20. Besides Union ministers Santosh Gangwar and Hansraj Ahir, Ajay Tamta participated in the brainstorming session,” said a BJP leader.
Under the auspices of the OBC Morcha, the BJP would be organising training programmes across the country for party workers with strategies to reach out to Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) and Most Backward Castes (MBCs).
“The benefits of scrapping interviews for jobs for Group C and D categories would be stressed. The beneficiaries would be feted in the course of the campaign across the country. Since the EBCs and MBCs flocked to the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the training campaign would seek to reaffirm the support bases among the marginalised sections of society,” added the BJP leader.
The BJP is apparently assessing whether the MBCs and EBCs will play a decisive role in Uttar Pradesh where the NDA bagged 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats. It will be organising maximum campaign meetings in UP.
“There will be about a dozen such programmes in Uttar Pradesh, while seven meetings each will be held in other states. Besides UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra will be in focus in the context of the Opposition unity being attempted in these states,” the BJP official said.
Incidentally, the BJP is in the middle of holding nationwide training programmes of its frontal organisations to gear up for the 2019 general elections.