New Delhi: While the Opposition parties continue to seek the elusive "unity" to take on the BJP in 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has asked the party leadership to keep an ear to the ground.
After the BJP national executive meeting in January, wherein Modi reminded the party leaders that only 400 days are left for the elections, the sources said that the PM, during a core group meeting of the BJP top brass, expressed concern over "anti-incumbency" in some of the BJP-ruled states.
During the meeting, the PM said that despite the India Shining blitzkrieg in 2004 the BJP-led NDA had failed to retain power because the voters found a disconnect between the campaign and reality. He asked the BJP's top brass to keep track of issues that can hamper the party's poll prospects.
Amidst the BJP's electoral wins since 2014, Modi has on numerous occasions cautioned BJP leaders against becoming complacent and advised them to follow the practise of "sampark aur samvaad" (connect and dialogue) with the people to beat anti-incumbency.
Hailed as the BJP's poll mascot, Modi cautioned the party leaders during the recent national executive meeting that they should not completely rely on him for winning polls and turn anti-incumbency into pro-incumbency. In states like Gujarat and Tripura, where the BJP won in recent months, and Karnataka, and Uttarakhand which are heading to the polls later this year, the party had undertaken major organisational changes, including leadership changes, to combat anti-incumbency.
During the meeting of the core group of the central BJP, which was also attended by the party president J.P. Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, Modi, it was learnt, also asked the leaders to strengthen the feedback mechanism and a direct connect between senior leaders and the karyakartas (cadre).
