With Narendra Modi in front, BJP targets 262 Lok Sabha seats, Narendra modi, Modi news, Narendra Modi BJP PM Candidate, BJP, Lok sabha Poll 2014, Lok sabha, latest and political news.
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:49
With Narendra Modi in front, BJP targets 262 Lok Sabha seats, Narendra modi.
NEW DELHI: Riding the Narendra Modi juggernaut, the BJP is setting more ambitious goals for itself in 2014. The party is now targeting 262 Lok Sabha seats where it anticipates bright chances for itself even as it reaches out to all possible allies.
Of these seats, the biggest chunk of 55 is from the 80-member Uttar Pradesh and the only states where it has no hopes of winning a single seat are Manipur, Tripura and Pondicherry.
The targets are based on an internal state-wise assessment made earlier this month around the time when the party had decided to declare Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate.
While drawing up its list of seats to focus on, the party has taken into account seats it has won at some point in general elections since 1989, seats it lost narrowly and the Modi factor leading to a repeat of its 1998 performance in UP when the majority community voted cutting across caste lines.
In Uttar Pradesh in the 2009 elections, the BJP won only ten seats and lost 11 by a margin of less than 50,000 votes. With UP being seen as its key to power in Delhi, the BJP is considering going a bit slow on its plans of a series of Modi rallies in the state and build up momentum closer to general elections. "With elections due only in April-may, we don't want to start a vigorous campaign immediately," a party leader said.
Modi will now focus on states heading for assembly polls this year, the south and the northeastern region, the leader said.
The party has set its eyes on 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka if former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa does not return to the BJP fold and 21 if he does, three in the 39-member Tamil Naduassembly, four of 42 in Andhra Pradesh and one out of 20 in Kerala.
In Haryana, the BJP hopes to gain an upper hand through a pact with Om Prakash Chautala's INLD and Kuldeep Bishnoi's Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC).
While it is pinning its hopes on three Lok Sabha seats in the state without Chautala, with him by its side the BJP is eyeing six seats. The party is already in an alliance with the HJC.
Other states where the BJP is banking on in the battle for Delhi are Maharashtra, where its zooming in on 30 of the 48 seats, Gujarat (25 of 26), Madhya Pradesh (23 of 29), Bihar (20 of 40) and Rajasthan (19 of 25).
But its Plan 2014, depends heavily on UP. The BJP is hopeful of regaining lost ground in the state and reaching out to new vote banks like the Jats, consolidate its Hindu votebank with Modi at the helm and cash in on his development plank.
While the political fallout of the Muzzafarnagar riots has given the BJP hopes of further capitalizing on the "anger" among the majority community against the Akhilesh Yadav government, there are apprehensions that the Muslims, disillusioned with the SP, could gravitate towards the Congress.
The BJP is treading cautiously while selecting candidates, with winnability and untainted image being given priority. "The party does not want to make a mistake like it did in the UP assembly election last year when it inducted Baburam Kushwaha (a tainted former minister in Mayawati government)," a state leader said.
source:economictimes.com