Ambitious BJP crafts poll strategies around local issues to up vote percentage

With about three weeks left for the urban local body polls, the BJP will intensify its campaign on four major issues, said a highly placed source at Kamalalayam, the BJP headquarters.

Death of Thanjavur girl Lavanya, DMK’s promise of NEET abolition, demolition of Hindu temples terming them as encroachments and police excess against public citing lockdown norms, are the issues that under the BJP radar, said the source.

BJP national general secretary Arun Singh has made it clear with Tamil Nadu karyakartas that justice should be rendered to a school girl in Thanjavur, who has allegedly committed suicide after being forced to convert. BJP national leader JP Nadda had also set up a four-member committee to probe the incident. Committee members comprising BJP leader and actor Vijay Shanthi from Telengana, Madhya Pradesh MP Sandhya Roy, Chitra Tai wagh from Maharashtra and Geetha Vivekananda from Karnataka have been appointed as members to visit Tamil Nadu and submit a fact-finding report, the source said.

“Winning and losing polls is not the agenda for the upcoming civic polls, but we want to increase our vote share by targeting youngsters. We are eyeing a vote share of about 15 per cent, so that a road map is laid for the next Lok Sabha (2024) and Assembly polls (2026). The change in the strategy is to avoid the national politics and stay grounded on issues that would connect with the TN public,” said a state BJP leader.

The campaign will focus more on Tamil Nadu centric politics drifting away from the routine of playing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP’s poster boy. Hindutva will be the core campaign, but we want to modify the campaign in such a way it is relevant to the issues faced by Tamils, the saffron leader added.