The BJP will embark on a six-month-long 'En Mann, En Makkal' (My Land, My People) padayatra in Tamil Nadu on Friday, in a bid to improve the party's tally in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The campaign will be flagged off by Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah at Rameswaram on Friday evening.
The poll campaign will cover 234 assembly constituencies in the state and will be conducted in five phases. "The campaign will be conducted in five phases to cover all the 39 Parliamentary constituencies and we have planned to conclude it on January 11, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections," Annamalai told reporters here.
The BJP state chief said he aims to meet and interact with people and take their good wishes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The second part of the yatra is more importantly to invoke the spirit that this soil and this people belong to us. We have a very unique Tamil spirit with Bharatiya culture and we will not allow the forces inimical to Tamil culture to swindle our precious resources," Annamalai added.
He said that the party aims to improve its tally. "when Modi comes back to power for the third straight time, Tamil Nadu has to give more MPs. We will talk about the corruption of DMK," the BJP state president added.
The campaign, set to cover over 1,770 km by foot and the remaining distance in the rural areas by vehicle, will see at least one central minister addressing each of the 10 major rallies. "We will highlight the achievements of the Prime Minister and seek the people's support to ensure the return of Modiji for a third successive term. We will also explain what the BJP has done for the betterment of the people, constituency-wise," he said.
About one lakh copies of the book, 'What Did Modi Do', will be distributed to the people.
During the 2019 elections, the BJP won just 3.66 per cent vote share in the state. It won just four seats in the 2021 assembly elections. Ever since it has been fiercely trying to expand its footprint in the state, joining hands with the AIADMK.
The party has been hitting out the DMK ever since and according to the party chief, the yatra would focus on exposing the DMK’s evils, hate politics and dynasty politics.
