Shah, Nadda meet BJP leaders to discuss roadmap for 144 'weak' LS seats

BJP chief J P Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah held a brainstorming session on Tuesday with key party leaders tasked with boosting its prospects in 144 Lok Sabha seats, considered difficult for it, in the 2024 polls.

Over 25 Union ministers, including Bhupender Yadav, Giriraj Singh, Smriti Irani, Parshottam Rupala and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, were among those who attended the meeting with Nadda and Shah.

Sources said reports were presented about the work undertaken by various ministers, who have been assigned three to four such Lok Sabha seats, besides other leaders.

The party has been working to amp up its booth-level presence and reach out to various communities with an eye on the beneficiaries of several central government schemes.

Party leaders said they will continue to work on these lines in addition to the directives made by the leadership.

Most of these 144 constituencies include those the party had lost in the 2019 polls, but a few winning seats are also part of the list due to difficult demographic and regional factors, the sources said.

The BJP had won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The party has divided the 144 seats into clusters and appointed one Union minister as their in-charge.

Another set of ministers was sent to assess the political situation by visiting all assembly segments within these constituencies, including in the states of West Bengal, Telangana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The sources said the ministers have visited most of these constituencies and gathered electorally crucial details.

The ministers have done a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)

analysis of the BJP's position in these constituencies and identified steps to be taken to ensure its victory in the 2024 elections, the sources said.

The party has also drawn a detailed blueprint on these constituencies which include information on religion, caste, geography, inclination of voters and the reasons behind it, they added.