BJP's Open-Arm Policy to win 370 Lok Sabha seats
4-Member committee with Vinod Tawade as member to focus on 161 seats
In order to achieve its goal of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats out of 543 in the May-2024 polls, the BJP is selectively opening its doors for leaders belonging to other parties.
The BJP has identified 161 Lok Sabha seats it wants to win which it never won in the past. The data-crunching of past Lok Sabha polls revealed that the BJP will need the help of leaders of other parties to win these seats. Therefore, the 4-member high-powered was set up to screen the entry of leaders from other parties which are working overtime to green-flag their entry.
The committee is composed of Union Minister Bhupinder Yadav, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra's senior leader and general secretary Vinod Tawde and general secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh.
There are reports that as many as dozen Mps from Congress, 40 MLAs and other prominent leaders may quit their parties and join the BJP within the next three weeks in phases.
The committee's focus is on those states where the BJP has a formidable presence but still wants to win those seats where it is on weak wickets. The states like Maharashtra, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, are on radar to add more seats in BJP's kitty. The BJP core team feels that the party could add at least 25+ Lok Sabha seats from these states in addition to retaining those it won in 2019. Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat is among the 161 Lok Sabha seats that the BJP could not win in decades.
There are states like Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Jharkhand and a couple of others where it can add 10 Lok Sabha seats if leaders of substance from other parties could be roped in.
The committee's focus is particularly on Punjab where it feels that the party could win all 13 seats if handled properly. It roped in Capt Amrinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar from Congress. The states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are in special focus where the BJP can at least win 15 seats with tie-up TDP and other regional parties. For remaining Southern states, the BJP is aiming to win 10 plus seats.
