Hyderabad: The BJP will prepare a south-specific roadmap to make itself a political force to reckon with and increase its chances of winning more seats in the parliamentary elections next year, according to a decision taken at a consultative committee meeting of party leaders from 11 states of the city on Sunday.
The meeting, chaired by party president J.P. Nadda, saw some top guns of the BJP, including general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh, joint secretary for organisational matters Shiv Prakash, and general secretary Sunil Bansal in attendance. State BJP presidents from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Goa, Maharashtra and Mumbai, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands were all in attendance.
The BJP clarified that it treats Mumbai and Maharashtra as separate entities for party works.
Telangana was represented by state BJP president and Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, vice-president D.K. Aruna, incharge Tarun Chugh, and co-incharge Arvind Menon. Other BJP leaders from Telangana who were at the meeting were P. Sudhakar Reddy, the co-in charge for Tamil Nadu, while Aruna also represented Karnataka as the state’s co-in charge.
Sources said that Sunday’s meeting focussed mainly on Telangana, even when leaders of other states were presenting their reports and steps they have taken in their respective states.
It was learnt that Santosh expressed interest in learning how the BRS’ foray into Maharashtra was faring, and was informed that so far, the impact has been limited, but there was some interest on account of funding from BRS in some sections of the state.
Discussing the recent change in the Telangana unit’s leadership, Nadda reportedly made it clear that the BJP was “dead certain” that it wants to do well in Telangana, not just in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, but also in the Assembly elections that will be held towards the end of this year.
Nadda is learnt to have stressed the need for the party to strengthen itself in the five ‘true’ southern states, of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. These states send a total of 118 members to the Lok Sabha but in the 2019 elections, except for Karnataka — which elected 25 BJP MPs out of 28 total seats, and Telangana which sent 4 to the Lok Sabha out of 17 seats — the party drew a blank in others.
Nadda reportedly made it clear that it was time for the BJP to not just make its presence felt in the southern states but also take steps to increase its presence in the Lok Sabha from these states.
In the 2019 Parliament elections, the BJP won 53 seats from the 11 divisions in the south, as per its set-up, out of 181 Lok Sabha constituencies from these states. The goal this time for the 2024 elections for the party, is at least to double this number, if not further.
Nadda also reportedly singled out Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai for praise, for the work he has been doing in strengthening the party in the Tamil state. At the same time, Nadda called out other leaders to step up and demonstrate that the party’s faith in them is not misplaced.
“Ensure every voter in each of the southern states becomes familiar with the contributions of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre in their states, and also at the same time, highlight how their respective state governments have let them down,” Nadda is learnt to have told the meeting.
