BJP begins strengthening its base in South India; sets 60-seat target
2 min read . Updated: 01 Jan 2023, 01:48 PM IST
Premium- There are 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 39 in Tamil Nadu, 17 in Telangana, and 28 in Karnataka
After capturing fortress Karnataka, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started preparations to spread its wings in other southern states as well. News agency ANI, citing sources said that the saffron party's preparations are in full swing with the deployment of seasoned BJP workers on more than 50 seats. BJP conducted training of the new workers in Hyderabad a few days back. Senior BJP leaders BL Santosh, Sunil Bansal, Tarun Chugh, and Vinod Tawde participated in the training camp.
"The BJP workers were trained on how to bring the works of the government in front of the public. The main focus of the BJP is on Telangana, followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. The BJP will mainly work in these States because there is already a BJP government in Karnataka. The party will also strengthen some seats in Karnataka but the main focus is on these four States for which they have also identified 60 seats, the agency said citing sources.
There are 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 39 in Tamil Nadu, 17 in Telangana, and 28 in Karnataka, respectively.
In the training camp held at Hyderabad, the BJP workers have been given a target to strengthen the party in the South in the next year so that in 2024 BJP once again form government in the 2024 Lok Sabha by winning a large number of seats from the south.
"BJP believes that if it wants to get more than 303 seats in 2024, then the southern seats will have to be targeted in a planned manner and now BJP has started working on it," said sources.
The saffron party has appointed two General Secretaries, one Sunil Bansal, and the other Tarun Chugh, to focus on south Indian states.
"People are being called from Tamil Nadu Telangana Andhra Pradesh to Varanasi to the double engine Modi-Yogi's Maha Vikas model in Uttar Pradesh. Some people have also been sent to Gujarat," sources said.
For instance, the party organised a programme called Kashi Tamil Samagam in Varanasi because Tamilians have an old relationship with Kashi.
The event was held from November 17 to December 16, 2022, and was aimed at rediscovering the bond between Kashi and Tamil Nadu. Hundreds of delegates from Tamil Nadu participated in this month-long event.
The event was organised by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) jointly.
