BJP cells helping people choose a leader

BJP cells helping people choose a leader

Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: On February 22, addressing a booth karyakarta sammelan, BJP's poster boy Narendra Modi, who is in-charge of Goa for the Lok Sabha
elections, said, "We are not here to win the Lok Sabha. We have to win the polling booth by winning the hearts of the families and reaching out to them. Once you win the polling booth, you will win Lok Sabha elections."

What Modi preached, the BJP in Goa has been working on for almost a year. They have set up 14 state cells to reach out to people from all strata of society such as farmers, students, chartered accountants, doctors, advocates, panchayat members etc. Besides, endorsing the BJP's mantra of reaching out to each home by providing their service, these cells are perfect examples of good political management.

"We have created 14 cells in the last few months. The aim of each cell is to connect with people of their profession and society at large. They not only serve the people but also help people choose a good leader, who can deliver," said BJP's North Goa candidate and state party president Shripad Naik.

The cells were established six months to one-and-half-year ago. Besides reaching out to the professionals to help BJP serve people at large to meet its social cause, these cells are becoming important agents to help sway the professional's sentiment in BJP's favour. "They have not just to co-ordinate amongst the group members but also garner public support in favour of BJP," said BJP MLA Laxmikant Parsekar.

In other words, each cell member who had so far worked towards helping people in need, in the last three months has been organizing meetings of the BJP's local leaders with people from their fraternity to help BJP woo the electorate. Though no one wants to comment on whether this would translate into votes, BJP sources reveal that this is the utimate goal.

So the doctor's cell organizes a meeting of doctors with a BJP leader wherein they not just talk about medical issues but also about what is happening in the country, how it can change and why they should support the BJP. On the other hand, a CA's meeting doesn't only talk about taxation issues but also gets to clear their perception about BJP as a party.

"It is a win-win situation for both groups. BJP gets its input about economy and governance from the CAs and the CAs in turn get across their difficulties and problems to the government through the cell. Also BJP gains in terms of votes and support, as CAs have the power to influence not only their clients but also other professionals by putting in a good word for BJP", said Santosh Kenkre, the state convenor for BJP's chartered accountant cell.

To clear doubts in the minds of CAs about BJP, opposition leader Manohar Parrikar had a one-and-half-hour interactive session with more than 100 CAs on Saturday. "We not only earn goodwill from the CAs for the BJP, which in turn ensures good governance in the state", added Kenkre. There are 300-odd CAs in the state.

"Professionals like doctors have a large following and they command respect in society. They don't just treat a patient, but also in the process become a part of the family. We can't be apolitical. If a patient asks whom they should vote for, we explain why they should vote for the BJP," added Dr Shekhar Salkar, the state convenor for BJP's doctors cell.

20 Apr 2009,The Times of India, Goa edition