No decision yet on alliance with JJP, says Haryana BJP chief
The Hindu
‘No decision yet on alliance with JJP for next year’s polls’
Ahead of next year’s parliamentary and State polls, the ruling BJP has stepped up preparations to retain all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and return to power in Haryana. State party president Om Prakash Dhankar spoke about efforts to go to the polls with the backing of a strong organisational set-up, the future of its alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), and the political repercussions of the farmers’ movement. Edited excerpts:
How has the party’s organisational set-up changed since you were appointed the State BJP president in July 2020?
When I joined the BJP in 1996, the party had organisational units at the State and district levels. The mandals were set up only in urban areas and their meetings were not held on a regular basis. Today, we can organise a meeting of office-bearers of 311 mandals in a day. Shakti Kendra, comprising five booths, is a reality and we have 4,400 well-organised units. We are now appointing panna pramukhs (person in charge of a page in the electoral rolls) and the process will be completed by next month. We will then have information on the name, caste, mobile number and profession of around five lakh workers on the party’s Saral app.
Will the BJP contest elections in Haryana in alliance with the JJP?
The 2019 Assembly polls resulted in a hung Assembly and a coalition was forged to form the government. The alliance was not formed to contest polls. There is one year to go for the elections, no decision has been made on this yet. We want to strengthen our party, they [the JJP] are also doing the same.
The BJP’s slogan in 2019 was ‘Abki Baar 75 Paar’, but it failed to cross the majority mark of 45. Will there be a different strategy this time?
That was a mere slogan. This time, we will target a definite number like [Gujarat BJP chief] C.R. Paatil did. The party had appointed panna pramukhs in Gujarat. I am doing this too.
No room for complacency till counting is completed, Chandrababu Naidu tells TDP-BJP-JSP contestants. The TDP-BJP-JSP alliance will register a comfortable victory in the general elections over the YSRCP, he says. Alleging that the YSRCP has conspired to create disturbances on the counting day, the TDP national president advises the chief counting agents and their teams to see to it that the officials adhere to norms related to counting.