Mission 2024: BJP targets win in majority of 144 'difficult' seats

The BJP top brass on Tuesday set the target of winning a majority of the 144 Lok Sabha seats where it had mostly lost in 2019 and told its leaders including many Union ministers to not ignore organisational work, sources said. BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah delivered the message at a brainstorming session with key party leaders, most of them Union ministers tasked with spearheading the party's drive to win these seats spread across the country.

Every minister has been given a cluster of three to four seats. Sources said Shah noted some of the ministers have not visited all the constituencies assigned to them and asserted that organisational responsibilities cannot be ignored.

"It was a clear message that the party's work cannot be ignored," a source said.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wide appeal cannot be utilised fully if the party lacks in organisational strength, Shah said in the closed-door meeting, sources added.

Nadda asked ministers to discharge their organisational responsibilities as well, stressing that it cannot be ignored.

Leaders were also asked to stay in touch with party workers right down to the booth level, the sources said.

Over 25 Union ministers, including Bhupender Yadav, Giriraj Singh, Smriti Irani, Parshottam Rupala and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, were among those who attended the meeting.

Sources said reports were presented about the work undertaken by various ministers.

The development came amid stepped-up unity efforts by BJP's rivals, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who met leaders of various parties in the national capital.

The BJP has been working to amp up its booth-level presence and reach out to various communities with an eye on the beneficiaries of several central government schemes, sources said.

Party leaders said they will continue to work on these lines in addition to the directives made by the leadership.

The second phase of pravas (tour) programme will be held between October and January.

Most of these 144 constituencies include those the party had lost in the 2019 polls, but a few winning seats are also part of the list due to difficult demographic and regional factors, the sources said.

The BJP had won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

It had identified difficult seats on similar lines in the run-up to the last polls and had succeeded in winning a number of them, boosting its tally of 282 seats in 2014.

The party has divided the 144 seats into clusters and appointed one Union minister as their in-charge.

Another set of ministers was sent to assess the political situation by visiting all assembly segments within these constituencies, including in the states of West Bengal, Telangana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The sources said the ministers have visited most of these constituencies and gathered electorally crucial details.

The ministers have done a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the BJP's position in these constituencies and identified steps to be taken to ensure its victory in the 2024 elections, the sources said.

The party has also drawn a detailed blueprint on these constituencies that includes information on religion, caste, geography, the inclination of voters and the reasons behind it, they added.