With the target of crossing a million votes for the PM, the party’s local unit has scaled up its outreach and campaign as the election nears, said BJP functionaries.
“Our target is to make PM Modi the MP getting the highest number of votes this time around. Our workers have coined the slogan ‘Ab ki baar 10 lakh paar’,” Vidyasagar Rai, BJP’s chief of Varanasi city. told ET.
Modi had polled nearly 675,000 or 64% of votes in the 2019 general election, a 7.25% increase since 2014 when he had polled about 581,000 votes. He defeated his nearest rival, SP’s Shalini Yadav, by about 480,000 votes. In 2009, CR Paatil, BJP’s Gujarat chief and MP from Navsari, had got about 973,000 votes, becoming the MP with the highest victory margin of about 689,000 votes.
The confidence of the party’s district teams stems from the strides made in development, among other things, said local leaders. “The main agenda is development and public welfare,” said Rai. Hansraj Vishwakarma, BJP’s district president in Varanasi, said, “Whatever resolve he has taken, he has fulfilled. Besides the milestones met on the national front, if we look only at Kashi, it has transformed. It is a new Kashi.”
“We are also scheduling a ‘tiffin meet’ of workers on March 31, which PM Modi will join virtually to guide the workers,” Rai said.
