'BJP working to boost presence in southern, eastern states'

The BJP Mahila Morcha is working to strengthen the party's presence at the booth level in the southern and eastern states where the party is perceived to be weak organisationally, party general secretary Saroj Pandey has said.

Pandey told IANS that Mahila Morcha workers were reaching out to people at the grassroots level in their local language in these states and telling them about the initiatives of the Narendra Modi government.

"The aim is to have 10 women workers of the party at every booth," Pandey told IANS.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considered weak in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and several states in the northeast. But with the party gaining ground in many of these states in the Lok Sabha polls, party president Amit Shah has asked the party workers to make special efforts to win elections there and form the government.

Shah had said earlier this month that the party had polled a significant percentage of votes in states such as Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha election and efforts should be made to make the BJP's presence felt in each panchayat, zila parishad and local body in these states.

Pandey, who was mahila morcha president before being elevated as general secretary in the new team announced by Shah, said they had been reaching out to women and telling them why they should join the BJP.

"We have been telling them about Prime Minister Narendra Modi as also the work done by our chief ministers," she said.

The women's wing of the BJP has also been holding camps to encourage women to join the party.

Pandey, a former MP and the only woman general secretary of the BJP, said the women's wing of the party is also providing more resources to its units in states where there is a need to strengthen the party's organisational structure.

Pandey expressed the hope that the target of having 10 women workers of the party at every booth in the identified southern and eastern states will be achieved in three years.