As preparations for the upcoming assembly polls in five states are gaining momentum, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cadre is having to pull out all the stops for local body elections in Telangana and the newly reconstituted Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), people aware of the details said.

BJP workers celebrating the party lead in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections (BMC) at party office, in Lucknow. (ANI)Senior BJP leaders said that although the party has long contested every election from “panchayat to Parliament” with the same zeal, a recent instruction from the party high command has reiterated the message to redouble efforts for winning local body elections, which pave the way for success in assembly contests.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently (while addressing the NDA parliamentary party meeting on February 3) emphasised the need to refrain from complacency and said that for the growth and stability of the party, the cadre should work as hard for local body polls as they do for state and parliamentary elections,” a BJP leader in Delhi said on anonymity.

With local body elections in Telangana scheduled for February 11, the party unit in the state has pushed more boots on the ground. “We have been canvassing hard, there are many issues of public concern and safety that have been overlooked by the state government and we want to ensure that governance at the lowest level is strengthened… and today we are comfortably set for a positive outcome,” a Telangana BJP leader said, also on anonymity.

Although there have been reports of rebels posing a challenge, state leaders asserted that the BJP is confident of winning the mayor’s seat in Mahbubnagar.

Similar efforts are underway in Karnataka, where the Greater Bangalore Authority (GBA) elections will be held in May.

The party has already appointed its former national general secretary Ram Madhav as the chief election in-charge.

“Apart from Ram Madhav, the party had deputed former Rajasthan unit president Satish Poonia and Sanjay Upadhyay (MLA from Maharashtra) for the polls, which in itself is an indication that the party is contesting the polls as seriously as the assembly elections,” the first BJP leader quoted above said.

The leader said the recent win in the Maharashtra local body polls has set the template for the party, and the high command wants similar results in other states as well.

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