New Delhi: With an eye on the forthcoming general election, the BJP has begun sprucing up its organisational apparatus. Booth-level and grassroot workers as well as senior party leaders will be deployed across the country to address existing flashpoints. The party functionaries have been asked to sort out internal differences, if any. The main focus of the party is in the Hindi heartland states.
Besides hyping up the Ram Mandir issue and targeting “400 plus” seats, the BJP will also play the “Modi ki guarantee” card aggressively. Meanwhile, if the surveys conducted by Lokniti-CSDS are an indicator for the forthcoming general election, the BJP seems far ahead of the Congress in the Hindi heartland. Surveys done after the recent Assembly polls in the Hindi heartland by Lokniti-CSDS clearly show that Congress scion Rahul Gandhi has not yet been able to emerge as the main vote-catcher for the party. The majority of voters in these states also believe the CBI and ED acted within the parameters of the law and “not used for political vendetta”.
The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey done in Chhattisgarh pointed out that the voters seemed to be "satisfied" with the performance of the Narendra Modi government over the last five years. Responding to the agency's questionnaire, 38 per cent of voters in Chhattisgarh, 39 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 51 per cent in Rajasthan seemed to be “fully satisfied” with the performance of the Modi government in the last five years. Voters ticking the “somewhat satisfied” box are 43.2 per cent in Chhattisgarh, 31.7 per cent in MP and 28.6 per cent in Rajasthan. The majority of the voters in these three states felt that the condition of the farmers have “improved” under the Modi government.
As the Congress gets ready for Rahul Gandhi’s second phase of the yatra across the country, the survey findings indicated that Congress leaders have not been able to connect with the electorate. In Chhattisgarh, 48.4 per cent of voters, as against 28.2 per cent, claimed that they were “not influenced” by Gandhi’s campaign. In Madhya Pradesh, only 32.4 per cent of the electorate seemed to have been “influenced” by Gandhi’s campaign, against 47.5 per cent, who were indifferent to his efforts. Gandhi’s limited campaign in Rajasthan evoked a poor response, with over 50 per cent of voters, saying Rahul Gandhi’s campaign “did not” influence their “vote choice for the party in this election”.
