LS polls: Maha BJP to tap "beneficiaries' of central, state

The BJP in Maharashtra will target "beneficiaries' of various central and state welfare schemes to win them over as potential voters for the party in the upcoming general elections.

This was decided on the first day of a two-day meeting of the state BJP that began here Wednesday.

The opening day saw BJP's district-level workers interacting with party leaders. Discussions at the meeting primarily focused on how to project the BJP before the electorate.

District-level BJP workers were asked to tap beneficiaries of various development and welfare schemes launched by the party-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra as potential voters.

"BJP leaders today gave the mandate to its district level workers to target beneficiaries of various schemes such as loan waiver, crop insurance, concession in educational fee to name a few," said a BJP leader from the Maharashtra unit of the party.

"It also includes some central government schemes. The plan is to build a strong team and network before the Lok Sabha elections. We have started preparations for the same," he said.

"The BJP in 2014 general elections received around 17.16 crore votes (nation-wide), but the number of beneficiaries of the central schemes so far has already reached to 22 crore. The strategy is to tap them first ahead of general elections," the leader said.

"The BJP got 1.47 crore votes in the 2014 assembly elections (in Maharashtra). Today, the number of beneficiaries of various state government schemes in Maharashtra is 1.20 crore.

"It clearly means, we can convert a large section of these beneficiaries into voters if we targeted properly," said the BJP leader.

The other initiatives include community-specific campaigns, especially those targeting Dalits and tribals, he said.

"There will be rallies such as Birsa Munda Gaurav Yatra from November 1 to 30. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha will organise a 'CM Khelo Maharashtra' competition, which will cover several games and will have final matches in Mumbai," he said.

"Young voters will be tapped through this scheme," he said.