BJP declares Lok Sabha poll team

NEW DELHI: BJP has announced an 11-member election committee under Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for the next Lok Sabha polls, along with as many as 20 sub-committees comprising the party's senior leaders, in a balancing act seemingly aimed at sending across a message of a united house.

"The committees will work under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the chairman of the national campaign committee, and guidance of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Rajnath Singh," BJP leader Ananth Kumar said on Friday.

Former party presidents Nitin Gadkari, MM Joshi and Venkaiah Naidu have been tasked with key responsibilities as have leaders of the opposition, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, and chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chavan, Raman Singh and Manohar Parikkar.

While Gadkari will head the committee that will make the vision document, the party's print and electronic campaign will be handled by Swaraj and Jaitley, and the manifesto panel will be led by Joshi. Senior BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister PK Dhumal and former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi will part of Joshi's team.

That the party's campaign will have equal emphasis on the traditional as well as the new voters, accounting for 20 per cent, is evident from the two committees that have been formed for devising ways to consolidate and win over support of the two sections. The party has also set up separate committees for online campaigning and traditional methods of reaching out to the electorate. Modi, who has a well-oiled social media machine, is hoping to reach out to user base across demographics and has been emphasising on cashing in on it to take on the Congress.

Amit Shah, Modi's close aide, will be part of the publicity campaign and head a committee to handle new voters. The party is also planning to come out with a chargesheet listing out Congress' performance, "corruption and misgovernance" at the Centre and in states.