Prime agenda: The opposition may abuse our top leaders, call us out for everything that doesn’t work out for them, and make a mountain out of a molehill whenever there is an opportunity. We have only one agenda as of now: take every government decision to the people, tell the voters what the double engine sarkar has been doing for them and why they must return the governments in the Centre and state. Narendra Modi has completed nine years in the prime minister’s office, and soon the Shinde-Fadnavis sarkar will be a year old. We are aware of what the people, the beneficiaries in particular, think about our governments. The opposition may say anything. The media may show it on television and print it, but it doesn’t make a big impact because only 10 per cent of the voters follow the media. Most people don’t have time to spare for such activities and they stand with Modi and the BJP’s state governments for their people-friendly policies. It happened in the past. It will happen yet again.

Maharashtra, in particular: We expect the Maha Vikas Aghadi to be intact against us only in the Lok Sabha elections. The MVA will fall apart in the Assembly considering the high stakes. We foresee the Congress going solo in the state polls while the Nationalist Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena fighting together. We also don’t see Thackeray as a face that can propel his factions to winning as many seats, be it local body or bigger polls. Eknath Shinde has taken away the faces that Thackeray was to rely on.

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Shinde has established leaders in his rank. With Modi at the centre-stage, the BJP has identified a face for each Assembly and Lok Sabha seat. The civic wards will also have good candidates. The BJP isn’t short of organisational strength that percolates down to the booth level. Which other party has such a system that runs smoothly?

Coping with Shinde Sena: Everything is fine between us. They too have the right to exert their strength and demand their share of the seats (this question was raised regarding the Shinde Sena’s demand for contesting 22 Lok Sabha seats). We haven’t decided the seat sharing formula for any elections yet, but we haven’t left any Lok Sabha or Assembly constituency devoid of our own system that will help our mission 2024. The BJP has taken upon itself to help the ally to win, because ultimately it will also help our governments in the Centre and Mumbai.

The preparation:  We are building an organisational structure in every segment in all 48 Lok Sabha and 288 Assembly seats. It has been our policy that the party should be prepared enough to contest on its own in each constituency. Such a contingency plan is always in place, and you have seen how it had worked in the past, especially in the 2014 Assembly polls.  And don’t forget, we will always have a brand called ‘Narendra Modi’ to fall back on.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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