With Modi in Delhi, BJP banks on Shah's booth mantra in Gujarat

As it prepares to face assembly elections in Gujarat without Narendra Modi at the helm, the BJP is launching an aggressive booth-level outreach from this month end. As part of this strategy, a party worker will be assigned to each of the 48,000 booths in the state for nine days.

The party workers, who will be from the state, will stay at the booth from May 28 to June 5, BJP sources said. BJP president Amit Shah, who was a minister in the Modi government in Gujarat, will himself be spending three days at the booth during this period.

This will be the first elections in the state since 2001 when Modi is not the chief minister. After winning his third consecutive term in 2012, Modi had moved to the Capital in 2014 as Prime Minister.

The workers have been asked to visit sections of key voters in the booth, conducting workshops, initiating a cleanliness drive and adding to the membership of the party.

Earlier this month, Shah had held a series of meetings with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who had taken over last month after Anandiben Patel stepped down. The BJP, which has retained power in the state since 1998, has targeted 150 of the 182 seats in the state. While Shah is also busy drafting a strategy for the party to make inroads into areas where the party has so far failed to capture political space, he is leaving no stone unturned in his home state to ensure that the BJP retains its winning spree.

Recently, BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav was given charge of the state, where elections are scheduled later this year.