Following its ambitious plan of expansion in the Southern Part of the country, BJP now plans to move ahead with a strong support of RSS & the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To tap the opportunities available in the fluid political sector in the South, the party leader Amit Shah has already handed out a “South Mission” blueprint to the party workers and demanded a quick action on that. The five states that BJP is targeting include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. The information came from an insider source of BJP.
A senior party leader said, “In these states, a strong RSS network has been built over the years and this will form the natural platform for the plan to take off,” The first litmus test for the party’s “South Mission” would be in Karnataka the Elections are scheduled for the end of this year. The critical strategies that BJP is considering to conquer the “South Mission” includes import of some already established leaders from other parties, breaking the local parties, introducing some renowned party leaders to the southern territory and more.
P Muralidhar Rao, BJP General Secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka released a statement saying, “The situation is fluid in Tamil Nadu. Although the internal crisis in AIADMK has left the party in a disarray, the DMK is not in a position to take advantage of it. Because, unlike in the past, when people in the state tolerated corruption under J Jayalalithaa or M Karunanidhi, today’s population is in no mood to see the corrupt in power. They want to get rid of them. M K Stalin is not even making an attempt to stand against corruption,”
BJP believes that since the revitalization of Congress is likely to happen this year, BJP has strong chance to come up as a strong choice, if not by design than by default. However, it would be a tedious task. In the meantime, the party is keeping its cool as the Presidential election is round the corner and BJP at any cost needs to retain the support of AIADMK.
BJP also considers roping celebrities and cine stars in their campaign as this has proved a great strategy times and now. Following this, the party approached Superstar Rajanikanth but the efforts went in vain as the star didn’t look convinced.
The party, however, says that though approaching Rajani was a failure, they have some actors like Vijay & Vishal to approach. “A popular star at the leadership position can change the situation dramatically. Getting one of them at the helm of affairs is one of our plans,” said a party leader familiar with the state unit.
Kerala, however, is not much of a worry for the party. The decline of Congress party has paved way for the entry of BJP in the state. “The minority or the demography no longer remains a challenge to the BJP in its electoral performance,” added Rao.
In Kerala also the party is roping many actors onboard. They already have Suresh Gopi in the party while targeting Mohanlal for the upcoming elections.
In Telangana, BJP has only two competitions, TRS & Congress, the party has a fair chance of victory. “The Opposition space will be occupied by the BJP in Telangana,” said one BJP leader.
Andhra Pradesh appears the most interesting territory, Jagan Mohan Reddy, leader YSR Congress met Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday and said that they are ready to offer their support to any candidate that BJP will set for the state. “We have very less difference in opinion. Except for differences in the land acquisition bill and special status for Andhra Pradesh, we share similar opinions on various issues which we think are pro-people,” Jagan told reporters after the meeting.
