Driven by PM Modi, BJP puts women at centre of 370-seat game plan: candidates to sops to narrative

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting a target of 370 seats for the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the party is working out a strategy to put special focus on the women voters in major battleground states. PM Modi is likely to make some “big announcements” in this regard on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

The BJP would make attempts to expand its support base among women in several key states in a bid to overcome perceived disenchantment among a section of people over issues like unemployment, inflation and farm distress, party sources said.

In West Bengal, the BJP’s high-decibel campaign over the Sandeshkhali incidents in North 24 Parganas and PM Modi’s attack on the ruling TMC over “atrocities against women of Sandeshkhali” – during his address at Arambagh rally in Hooghly district last Friday – signalled the party’s women outreach to increase its Lok Sabha tally from the state.

This has put the TMC on the defensive even as the party’s local strongman Sheikh Shahjahan has been arrested in the case of an attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who had gone to raid his house in Sandeshkhali early January in connection with its probe into a ration scam.

Shahjahan, who had been on the run for 55 days, and his aides also faced allegations of sexual abuse and land grabbing from local women.

The women voters have strongly backed the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, fuelling its return to power for a third term in 2021. Hours after Shahjahan’s arrest, the TMC suspended him from the party for six years.

Significantly, PM Modi is expected to address the national meeting of the BJP Mahila Morcha in Barasat in North 24 Parganas on March 7. Apart from the female beneficiaries of various Central government