WITH GROWING challenges in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections next year, the BJP has decided to field its ministers to aggressively campaign for the party in the state. Each minister has been assigned to tour 36 districts in the next nine months.
Which means each minister will have to cover at least four districts in a month.
There are nine ministers each representing BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) apart from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Thus, the total strength of the ministry is 20.
The party has prepared an elaborate plan to ensure that every household in 355 talukas in the 36 districts is contacted before the next elections.
BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule himself has embarked on a tour to mobilize the cadre at grassroots. The party’s focus is on using its 97,000 booths to maximise its outreach plan. At every booth, there are at least 25 dedicated workers operating round-the-clock.
Senior BJP leader and cabinet minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “In every district, we have to attend programmes and address people.” The ministers during their tour will highlight the welfare policies and programmes undertaken by both the state government and the Centre.
Revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who started his district tour from Nashik, Sambhajinagar said, “We are not in-charge of any districts. We will tour and address programmes in different districts.”
