Keen to broaden its base ahead of the Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party’s national OBC Morcha held a study workshop in Bengaluru and its valedictory event on Saturday was attended by national president J.P. Nadda.
Participating in the session two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Karnataka, Mr. Nadda called upon party workers and leaders to ensure that the OBCs, who form a big chunk of the population in Karnataka, do not stay away from the party. This is seen as a strategic effort by the BJP to make inroads into the OBC category which forms the main support base of the Opposition Congress, especially with Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah being a prominent leader of the OBCs.
Mr. Nadda also participated in a convention of elected representatives from rural and urban local bodies that had been organised in Chitradurga. In the convention, he appealed to panchayat members to make use of the availability of increased allocations being made by the Centre.
He said that was “a golden period of development of panchayats as each panchayat is getting allocations worth crores of rupees.” The convention was part of the BJP’s preparations for the 2023 elections in rural areas.