BJP to rope in Dave for poll strategy in MP

Bhopal: With an aim to score a hat-trick in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections slated later this year, the ruling BJP has reposed faith in senior party leader Anil Madhav Dave, who played a pivotal role in the 2003 elections, party sources said on Friday. Dave is a "key member" of the BJP's poll management committee in Madhya Pradesh, they said.

A Rajya Sabha member, Dave along with his team had drawn elaborate strategies in 2003 to ensure the defeat of Congress Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. He had then launched a systematic campaign to turn the prevailing anger against the ruling party on the issues of 'bijli, sadak and pani' (electricity, water and roads) in favour of the BJP, whose campaign was then headed by former Chief Minister Uma Bharti.

"It is an uphill-task, but I take it as a challenge and always believe in taking every polls very seriously by drawing proper strategies and plans," Dave said, confirming his new assignment. "I do everything in life meticulously and this time also we will work out strategies to ensure that the party emerges victorious for a third consecutive term, which is very important for it in view of not just the 2013 Assembly polls but also the Lok Sabha polls," Dave, who also heads the NGO Narmada Samagra, said.

However, BJP sources said that in terms of vote percentage, there is not much of a difference between the share of major political parties (BJP and Congress) in the state. Retaining the lead this time, with ten years of anti-incumbency, will be a major challenge, they said. In 2003, the BJP had got 42.49 per cent votes while the Congress managed 31.60 per cent of the total votes.

But in 2008, the ruling BJP's vote share was reduced to 37.64 per cent, while Bharti's Jan-Shakti party had cornered over six per cent votes which resulted in the BJP's tally of seats reducing from 173 to nearly 143. However, with the merger of the Bharti's faction with BJP, the saffron party's strength in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh is set to increase but will not be an easy task, sources said.

Political observers also feel that Congress has to redraw its strategies again in Madhya Pradesh after the death of senior party leader Harvansh Singh, who was considered a pillar of strength and always played the role of a bridge between various party factions.