DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
jammu, Feb 8
Jammu District BJP Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started Gaon Chalo Abhiyan today from Party Office, Kachi Chawni, under the leadership of District President Parmod Kapahi to intensify its outreach in rural and urban areas with a campaign that will see senior leaders spending 24 hours in booth to assess the mood on the ground, ensure saturation of schemes and underscore the achievements of the Union government.
The Gaon Chalo Abhiyan plans to cover 262 booths along with 7 Panchayats in Jammu District. In this start programme, he was accompanied by State Vice President Yudhvir Sethi and Former Minister Smt Priya Sethi along with all the 5 Mandal Presidents.
On Start, Parmod Kapahi that it said is designed to allow interaction between leaders and voters in booths across every booth .The BJP, once considered an urban-centric party, has been making inroads into rural India through a slew of social welfare schemes oriented towards empowering the economically weak and socially marginalised.
BJP’s vote share in rural areas went up from 30.3% in 2014 to 37.6% in 2019. Party leaders attribute this change to labharthis (beneficiaries) voting for the BJP, overlooking caste and other local considerations.
“The change in vote share was a result of the popularity of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the success of schemes, notably the construction of izzat ghar (toilets), houses for the poor (PM Awas Yojna), Har Ghar Nal (piped water supply), which were given to people across castes and religions,” said Parmod Kapahi.
The party has set a target of bagging more than 51% votes in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. In constituencies where its share is already 50- 51%, the plan is to increase it further and win by bigger margins.
To leverage the popular support for PM Modi and the social schemes in addition to the free food grains that are being provided for the economically weaker sections, the BJP leadership has tasked its cadres, including ministers, MPs, Ex-MLAs, MLCs, DDCs, former BDC Members, State Office bearers, District Presidents etc. with spending at least 24 hours in a Booth .
