Realising that the opposition campaign claiming that the BJP wanted to make changes in the nation's constitution damaged the party immensely, the BJP has decided to undertake a nationwide exercise to reachout to the scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) and bring them closer to the party.
The party has set up a special group for this consisting of senior office bearers. Speaking about this programme with the FPJ, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “We have realised that some narrative was set by the Congress and other opposition parties ahead of Lok Sabha polls. I want to assure first the media and then also the masses that there is no plan of making any changes in the constitution and we will continue the rights of the SC and ST communities. The central leadership of the BJP has instructed us to launch an outreach programme in which we will go to every district in Maharashtra and convince people about this”.
The first meeting in this regard was held on Monday evening in Mumbai where the BJP SC and ST cell presidents from every single district of Maharashtra were invited. The party has decided to use social media on a wide scale and also hold regular media conferences as part of their outreach programme.
A source close to Bawankule told the FPJ that there was some brainstorming within the BJP top state leadership about whether to have talks with some of the smaller political outfits that represent the interests of the SC and ST.
Reacting to the news about BJP's plans regarding this outreach programme Congress leader and leader of opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said, “Whatever campaign our party undertook regarding BJP's plans about the constitution was based on what many leaders of the BJP themselves said publicly. Even some of their MPs said on camera that they wanted over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha so that some things in the constitution could be changed. It is not our imagination”.
