Even though the Bhartiya Janata Party is sitting comfortably in Gujarat, all poised for an impressive seventh consecutive win, it does not want to leave any stone unturned. And it is fighting the forthcoming Assembly elections with the same vigour as it did when it was in the Opposition before 1995.
This time, the Aam Aadmi Party is giving tough competition to both the Congress and the BJP in Gujarat.
Gujarat has 182 assembly seats–BJP stands at 111 seats and Indian National Congress at 66 and Bharatiya Tribal Party at 2 seats. However, the BJP wants to win big and hence all Central Ministers and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States will be campaigning vigourously in Gujarat.
Central ministers and chief ministers will visit various constituencies and meet different communities from September 29 to October 31. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya has been assigned the responsibility to lead and execute this task.
Plan of Action
Pradipsinh Vaghela, General Secretary, BJP Gujarat had sent a notification to all BJP office bearers about this decision. Central ministers will have to visit two assembly seats in a day for election campaigning. Local BJP workers will have to organise road shows and rallies.
BJP ministers are asked to organise gatherings and discourses with communities such as Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, Patel, Kshatriya, Brahmin, Lohana and others. Organising Chai Pe Charcha with leaders of communities is a task assigned to ministers.
Not just various communities, ministers are also instructed to give due importance to various religious leaders and their places of worship. One-to-one meetings with religious gurus and visits to temples to pay respect are also categorically mentioned.
Union Minister of Textile Darshana Jardosh from Surat will be on the ground, MoS for Communications Devusinh Chauhan and MoS for fisheries department Parshottam Rupala will also be working for the election campaign.
Union Minister Amit Shah also held a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and State BJP Chief CR Paatil on September 27–to kickstart the work for the Gujarat elections. The closed-door meeting was held at BJP headquarters Kamalam, Gandhinagar.
Top sources said that Union HM discussed various agitations going on in Gandhinagar. He also asked the state president to strengthen the booth and page committee. The selection of candidates and some disputes amongst the party leaders were also discussed in the meeting.
The meeting at Kamalam was also to decide the message and line of communication that the BJP should follow while reaching out to the public. Roadshows, election-related events, and activities to attract varied segments of voters–senior citizens, women, first-time voters etc were also decided.
Why Mansukh Mandaviya?
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya took charge as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare on July 7, 2021. Through sheer diligence in serving the people, he has risen through the ranks from the grassroots level. Charting a challenging journey from being a young leader to a state-level representative to a Minister of State, and now as a Union Cabinet Minister– his commitment to serve the nation has been evident from his various endeavours.
Mandaviya was born in a village named Hanol in the Bhavnagar district. He hails from a middle-class farmer’s family. He did his PhD on the Role of Rural Schools in Community Development. As Health Minister, he played a crucial role in augmenting the vaccine manufacturing capacity of the country and boosting the COVID-19 vaccination drive. He has been part of various bilateral visits and delegations to more than 55 plus countries including Switzerland, Jordan, UAE etc.
For this crucial task, Mandaviya was chosen because he himself does not seek publicity and works with a commitment. His penchant for perfection is reflected in his career spanning decades. He has been credited to have helped decrease the cost of urea and other fertilizers, establishing more than 8000 Jan Aushadhi stores to provide more than 1,450+ medicines and more than 200 plus surgical items and medical devices at affordable rates and reducing the cost of heart stents and knee implants.
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