Bjp To Step Up Campaign In Final Lap

The BJPs campaign is all set to adopt a more aggressive tone from today in its bid to win at least 280 seats on its own, according to BJP general secretary KN Govindacharya. The party is contesting 376 seats, of which 310 have been dubbed winnable.

The BJP would step up its campaign between February 6 and February 22 in order to try to gain a 6-7 per cent swing of votes in its favour, he said. Our slogan will be dont allow a hung Parliament, and that the BJP is the only party capable of securing majority and providing a stable government, he said in an interview. According to him, the partys major gain areas would be Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, besides the traditional strongholds in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In Bihar, the party alongwith the Samata Party, expects to win two-thirds of the seats i.e., 36 of the 54. In the last elections the combine had won 24.

 

He claimed that the estimate was not too optimistic as it was based upon voters disillussionment with the other two groupings-the Congress and the United Front. The voter would weigh the option between a BJP-led government and another hung Parliament, he held.

The BJPs prospects have brightened due to the fragmentation of anti-BJP votes, Govindacharya said. The anti-BJP vote was likely to split between the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj party and also the Congress, he said.

and claimed that the partys tally of 52 of the 85 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the last elections was certain to improve.

In Bihar too, he sees a similar position due to the presence of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Janata Dal, the Left parties, the Congress and the Jharkhand parties. Tactical voting against the BJP is also ruled out because of antagonism and antipathy between leaders and followers of these parties, he held.

Giving more representation to the backward communities in ticket distribution would also help the party, Govindacharya, a votary of social engineering, said.

He conceded that earlier the BJP did not have much contact and sympathy among the Most Backward Castes (MBCs). The situation has since changed, he claimed.