BJP’s ‘Special-45’ tasked with cracking youth vote ahead of polls

New Delhi: The BJP is going full throttle to reorient itself and come up with ideas that can help it connect better with youth ahead of crucial assembly elections.

Continuing with its recent initiative on Gen Z outreach, BJP national president Nitin Nabin has called a meeting of 45 leaders, different from the earlier group, to discuss ways to strengthen the party's youth connect.

Harish Dwivedi, the recently appointed general secretary of the BJP, is coordinating the meeting.


The leaders will brainstorm the party's upcoming strategies, particularly those concerning young voters. The 'Special-45' includes Union ministers, MPs, former MPs and other party leaders.

Among those attending the meeting are Union ministers Kamlesh Paswan and Raksha Khadse, former Union minister Anurag Thakur, Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan, former BJP Yuva Morcha president and Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, Darjeeling MP Raju Bishta, former Mumbai MP Poonam Mahajan and former Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde.

Sources in the BJP told ET that the meeting is part of an exercise to brainstorm and think afresh within the party.

During the first BJP office-bearers' meeting of the new team, PM Modi had called for a new approach, asking leaders to inject new ideas that the party can work on in the coming years. His message was to think out of the box and implement ideas that can connect with the current generation of voters.

Young voters will be crucial for the party in the upcoming polls in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab. In UP and Uttarakhand, the BJP has been in power for two terms, and the party is looking for new ideas to minimise the anti-incumbency that sets in with two consecutive terms.

In Punjab, the BJP is playing aggressively to become a key player in state politics. It currently has two MLAs in the state.