BJP mega campaign eyes political benefits of Budget's Saptarishi

SANTOSH KUMAR PATHAK

New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Through the first Saptarishi budget of "Amrit Kaal", the BJP aims to gather the support of voters from all sections of the society. This is the reason why Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the budget on February 1, tried to provide benefits to the country's rural population, tribes, farmers, women, middle class, senior citizens, MSMEs, traders, youth, cooperatives etc, along with special focus on health, education and skills among others.

Along with the government, the party started a mega campaign on February 1, under the chairmanship of party president JP Nadda, at the organisational level to inform the people of the budget's merits, which will run till February 12.

In the mega campaign, from February 4 to February 12, the saffron party has developed a strategy to deploy its Central ministers across the country who will hold press conferences in more than 50 cities and interact with the public on the merits of the budget.

During the campaign, the Chief Ministers and the Deputy Chief Ministers of the BJP ruled states and the leader of opposition or any other senior leader in the states where there is no BJP government will inform the people about the budget through a press conference or seminar.

On Friday, Sitharaman briefed the party MPs about the merits of the budget and the points that the MPs should highlight among the public and reach people in their parliamentary constituencies through the local media.

These points have to be publicised during the Parliament session and the allegations of the opposition parties have to be countered both inside and outside the Parliament.

In this budget workshop held by Sitharaman, MPs from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were present.

Describing the budget as one that gives priority to the deprived, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that this first budget of Amrit Kal would build a strong foundation to fulfil the grand vision of a developed India.

Describing it as a historic budget, Modi had said that the budget would fulfil the dreams of every citizen, including the poor, farmers and the middle class.

The BJP believes that voters can be wooed through this campaign and the party has launched it vigorously in the Tripura Assembly election campaign from Friday itself.

They are also expected to do so in the election campaigns in Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Assembly elections are to be held in Tripura on February 16 and in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27.

Apart from these three states, Assembly elections are to be held in 6 other states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Mizoram -- this year.

BJP strategists believe that this first budget of Amrit Kal has something or the other for the people from all sections of the country. In this budget, important announcements were made for everyone which is being conveyed to the people in simple and easy language.

Strategists believe that the saffron party will benefit from this in the Assembly elections and in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.