BJP sets sights on grassroots expansion ahead of A.P. panchayat polls

BJP State president P.V.N. Madhav and MP Daggubati Purandeswari at the State-level coordination meeting in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has identified the forthcoming panchayat elections as an opportunity to strengthen its presence across Andhra Pradesh, with State president P.V.N. Madhav urging party leaders to ensure representation in every village and panchayat.

Addressing a State-level workshop on local body election results, Mr. Madhav said the BJP had secured representation in all 13 municipal corporations that went to polls in the first phase. It had won about 23 of the 33 ZPTC seats contested and secured MPTC seats. Around 355 party representatives had been elected across the State, he said.

The three-phase panchayat elections, scheduled for November 13, 17 and 19, were crucial to expanding the party at the grassroots. He called for stronger coordination among alliance partners and effective utilisation of Central funds released to panchayats.

BJP national vice-president and Rajamahendravaram MP Daggubati Purandeswari attributed the party’s electoral gains to the efforts of generations of workers. The BJP had won more than 59% of the seats allotted to it under the alliance arrangement, she said.

Citing its performance in the erstwhile combined East Godavari district, she said the party had won 10 of 11 seats in Anaparthi, all three in Gopalapuram and both seats allotted to it in Kovvur.

She urged elected representatives to remain accessible to party workers and called for grooming a new generation of leaders to take the organisation forward over the next 10 to 15 years.