The Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be getting into election mode a good two years before the next Legislative Assembly polls are due. The party is preparing for a revamp of the organization that will see changes at all levels, except maybe at the very top, that of the state party president. The consensus at present appears to be to allow current State party president Vinay Tendulkar to continue for another term at the helm of the party’s affairs. Tendulkar knows the Goan political situation very well having been an MLA in the past and also having handled the affairs of the party. Hence he is as aware of the legislative affairs as he is of how the party organization functions. He is also rather non-controversial and that could be one reason why the party is thinking of retaining him as the state president. Also, retaining him gives the party some continuity at the top, after it had to change its chief minister midterm in November last.
The BJP has always been very good at keeping its organizational machinery well-oiled and turning smoothly without any major disruptions. The party organization and the commitment of its members has been its strength, which the party has not failed to fall back upon at times of crisis. It is the only party in Goa that has committees right from the booth level going up to the top. Yes, it has faced some setbacks and there have been defections, such as recently when some party members were refused tickets for the Zilla Panchayat elections and quit to contest as independents, but the discipline among its members has been its biggest strength.
It is interesting that the party starts its work of rebuilding the organization at this point of time. We have crossed the midpoint of the current assembly term and the BJP has just received a setback of sorts in the Zilla Panchayat polls held in March. The BJP and its allies managed to win 25 of the 50 seats up for grabs in both the districts, though it had been hoping to take its tally to much more than that. As expected the Bharatiya Janata Party has got its nominees as the South Goa Zilla Panchayat chairperson and vice-chairperson elected unopposed. It is facing an election in the North Goa district panchayat, but is likely to win here too, as the election for the office bearers appears, at this point of time, to be nothing more than a token battle.
The party organization that will take office in August will have a three-year term and so will be in place when the 2017 elections are held. With at least another 22 months to the 2017 elections, the party’s laying of the groundwork right now will give the office bearers at the grassroots level a head start and ample time to learn the issues that affect their particular areas and prepare for the battle ahead. The organizational revamp will also see some posturing from members hoping to garner the party’s assembly ticket in 2017, and could even indicate some of the key party members who could be contesting the next election. Organizational elections are always a time when the constituency leaders either ensure that their trusted lieutenants are at the helm or that they themselves get the local posts. The political scene then, at the party level, will begin to heat up next month when the internal party elections take place.
While going through with its revamp, the BJP needs to look at making itself acceptable to all sections of the electorate. Though the party was able to win a simple majority in the 2012 Assembly polls, it has not been able to take along the entire population of the State. The recent attacks on churches and also the calls for Ghar Wapsi that have come from organizations and individuals sympathetic to the BJP have further alienated certain sections of society from the party. The party will have to work on this if it is to match its 2012 performance, especially since it will be missing its star campaigner Manohar Parrikar who is now holding fort in New Delhi as Union Defence minister.
While BJP begins training for the 2017 race, the other parties in the State are in no condition to even make it to the starting blocks as of now. They have as much preparation time available as the BJP, show no urgency in flinging, despite being weaker organizationally. That is where the battle is won and lost, in the preparation, and having proved this in 2012, BJP is hoping for a repeat performance.
