New Delhi: With opinion polls predicting an edge for the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Assam, the party’s state unit wants star campaigners to rely more on “local inputs” rather than those furnished by “outsiders”.
There is also a growing feeling among the BJP state cadre that the party is not being able to take “advantage of the Modi wave prevailing in Assam”. Though the BJP is heavily banking on Sarbananda Sonowal, its chief ministerial candidate who dominates the campaign material, a section within the party’s state unit also wants some “changes” in the election strategy for the “change” promised by the BJP to the state.
The first phase of polling in Assam is scheduled for April 4, when 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies will vote. The BJP, along with allies AGP and BPF, is hoping to dethrone the Congress, which has been ruling the state for 15 years. The principal Opposition party, the All-India Democratic United Front (AIUDF), is also hoping to play an crucial role in the next government formation.
Not taking lessons from the severe drubbing in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP’s “team of outsiders” and not the local leaders are giving final shape to election strategies. The state cadre feels this is one of the reasons why star campaigners like Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, among others, fail to highlight many regional issues in their speeches.
The state unit is also of the view that the party’s election strategists are not utilising the growing sentiment against some of the candidates fielded by the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF.
