Amit Shah sets Mission 350+ for 2019 Lok Sabha polls

As opposition leaders were holding a conclave on Thursday, BJP President Amit Shah held a meeting in Delhi with party officials and union ministers to chalk out strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls setting a target of 350-plus seats for the party in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the BJP said that during the hour-long meeting at the party office here, Shah gave special focus on coastal states like Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for achieving the target.

The meeting was attended by union ministers HN Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, JP Nadda, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Manoj Sinha and Narendra Singh Tomar. Apart from them, the meeting was also attended by all the eight General Secretaries and all the Co-General Secretaries (Organisation).

During the meeting, Shah said the party's chances have increased not only in Odisha and West Bengal but also in Kerala.

"We have come to the second position in West Bengal and Odisha and our chances have brightened in Kerala," a leader who attended the meeting quoted Shah as saying.

Shah also asked the leaders to especially focus on those 150 seats where the BJP stood second or third in the last Lok Sabha polls. A presentation on the 150 seats was also given.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP contested 428 seats and won 282 getting 31 per cent of vote share.

The BJP in 2014 had won 216 seats in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

The party strategists feel that despite its attempts the BJP may not be able to win as many seats in 2019 as it won in these states in 2014. So it needs to focus in those areas where it could not perform well despite a wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shah also asked the party leaders to aggressively counter the opposition onslaught on government schemes and policies.

"The Modi government has fulfilled the expectations of the people. Now, we need to implement the ambitious projects like Ujjwala and others of the government to ground level," Shah said according to the party leader.

He said the party has less than two years to work for the next Lok Sabha polls and special attention should be given so that the target can be achieved.