By Shashi Bhushan
New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS): The BJP campaign for Uttarakhand will focus on the importance of having a 'double engine' government for the development of the state. The campaign will also mention how absence of a double engine government in Punjab has deprived people of development projects worth over Rs 42,000 crore after security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was breached in the state on January 5.
The saffron party is also making a community specific outreach programme to achieve its target of winning over 60 seats in 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly polls along with the youth and the first time voters. Uttarakhand is going to polls on February 14 and counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Talking about the importance of 'double engine' government, a senior party leader from the state pointed out that in his last three visits to the state Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 36,000 crore.
"Prime Minister never discriminates among states and believes in 'Team India'. He also went to Punjab to inaugurate projects worth Rs worth more than Rs 42,750 crore but the people were deprived of infrastructure development projects due to politics of the Congress ruled state government. To accelerate the pace of development it is necessary to have a double engine government," Sardar R.P. Singh, the BJP election co-incharge for Uttarakhand told IANS.
On January 5, Prime Minister Modi cancelled his Ferozepur, Punjab visit to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore after his security was breached.
To win the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, the BJP also developed specific community outreach programme for the Bengali and Sikh community.
Bengali community, which migrated to the state from East Pakistan in 1971 after formation of Bangladesh, has influence in over half a dozen constituencies in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. Bengalis play an influential role in Sitarganj, Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Kichha, Khatima and a couple of more Assembly constituencies.
Sikhs are 2.34 per cent of the state population. Majority of Sikhs are residents of two districts of Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun of Uttarakhand.
It is learnt that Singh and election co-incharge MP Locket Chatterjee will hold separate meetings with the Sikh and Bengali communities respectively. Singh held 50 meetings with the Sikh community and Chatterjee also held over two dozen meetings.
Party is also giving special attention to the first time voters aged between 18 to 25 years and recently concluded meetings in all the 70 Assembly seats. "We held new voters' meetings in all the 70 Assembly seats which were attended by over 2,000 new voters. One such meet was also attended by BJP youth wing national president Tejasvi Surya who interacted with the new voters," Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, BJP Youth wing national secretary said.
The BJP has set a target of winning over 60 seats in the next Assembly polls in Uttarakhand. In the last Assembly polls in 2017, the BJP won 57 seats.