BJP ‘raths’ to seek manifesto ideas

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday officially launched its election exercise as party president J.P. Nadda flagged off the “Viksit Bharat Modi Ki Guarantee Rath” and the “Sankalp Patra Sujhav Abhiyan” for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The exercise will continue till March 15, and will see senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers, reaching out to prominent people, various associations, professionals, youth outfits, traders’ unions, among others, to seek suggestion for the manifesto and seeking votes for the “Modi ki guarantee”.

An upbeat BJP is planning to reach out to more than one crore people with nearly 1,000 such raths (video vans) with 6,000 suggestion boxes covering all Assembly constituencies spread across the country. BJP state units will also undertake a similar exercise of seeking suggestions and highlighting the achievements of the Modi government in the last decade.

A prabandhan (management) committee, which will be keeping a tab on the suggestions received for the manifesto, comprising senior BJP leaders Shivprakash, Sunil Bansal and Tarun Chugh, held a workshop earlier on Monday that was attended by 82 delegates from 34 state units. The BJP is yet to announce its key panels, including for election management and campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.

The party is also seeking suggestions for the manifesto on the NaMo app, its various social media platforms, and most important, through its over 17 crore members. A missed call service has also been stated where people can leave their suggestions for the manifesto.

“Building the ‘Viksit Bharat’, ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Vishwamitra Bharat’ was something beyond imagination before 2014. But today, these dreams are turning into reality under the able leadership of Modi ji… During this ‘Amrit Kaal’, Bharat is ready to take a long leap towards becoming a developed nation,” Nadda noted at the event to flag off the raths. The BJP president asserted that the BJP was “making sure that aspirations of the public should reach us in every way”. Nadda also said that under Modi's leadership, the BJP will fulfil the dreams and aspirations of people in the next five years. The BJP has set the target of 370 parliamentary seats and 400-plus seats for the BJP-led NDA in the coming polls.