Recognising the need to improve its tally in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where the party is in a minority, the BJP will focus on a strategy to win most of the Assembly elections at its upcoming national executive meeting in Bengaluru on April 3.
The party needs to win most of the State elections over the next three to four years to gain control of both Houses of Parliament.
Party president Amit Shah recently designated Union ministers to pay special attention to coordination of organisational activities in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry – in which the party wants to make its mark.
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After the humiliating defeat in Delhi, Mr. Shah has taken advance action in crucial States such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh so that there is better coordination on the ground.
Through its drive, the party has raised its membership from less than 3-6 crore and is now racing towards achieving its target of 9 crore. The larger membership base will also ensure a higher vote percentage during elections.
In the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had achieved a 31 per cent vote share and decimated its rival Congress in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Goa, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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After nearly seven months in the saddle, Mr. Shah also reconstituted the national executive last week. He is yet to fill several vacancies for the posts of vice-presidents and general secretaries. BJP sources say this will be done before the meeting.
The political resolution at the national executive will speak of the party’s success in forming governments in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir after its spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
It will talk of the new membership drive and resolve to strengthen the party further in different parts of the country as well as the need to make efforts to win Assembly elections.
The economic resolution will highlight revival of the economy, higher GDP, lower inflation and fiscal deficit and steps taken on black money, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Make-in-India, Skilling India, Clean Ganga and such flagship programmes of the NDA government.
The national executive has been postponed several times due to elections in different States. The last national executive and the national council was held in August last to ratify the election of Mr. Shah as president.
The national executive will be preceded by a meeting of office-bearers, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.