Win shows BJP's popularity in rural areas: Parnami

JAIPUR: The state BJP headquarters on Friday was abuzz with happy and enthusiastic workers and supporters celebrating the ruling party's performance in the panchayat polls; even as the seniors got ready to elect the zila pramukhs and pradhans.
Campaigning for the post of zila pramukhs and pradhans and efforts to manage the show where the party had not got a clear majority but was in a position to form the board, gained momentum on Friday.State president Ashok Parnami said that the party had won over 20 zilla parishads and that itself was a reflection of the saffron party's popularity in the rural areas.
Till Friday night, the BJP had won 22 zila parishads and was hopeful of winning Bharatpur, where counting is still on. Meanwhile, it began working on getting its zila pramukhs and pradhans elected. Reports of BJP herding its winning candidates poured in from several parts of the state and the party concentrated on districts like Jhunjhunu where both BJP and Congress has won an equal number of seats. All attempts are being made to ensure BJP zila pramukhs are elected in most districts except for the obvious ones where the party has no chance, like in Barmer. For now, the focus is on the election of zila pramukhs and pradhans,'' said a senior official, who added that the party is hopeful that horse-trading in Kota will also ensure the zila pramukh elected there is a party representative. The Kota loss came as a set back for the BJP as the district is traditionally known to be a stronghold for the party.
The party has done well and where it has not, we will review the party's performance. However, there is no question of the party's popularity graph going down. Rather, it has increased, particularly in the rural areas, where we have performed much better than before,'' said Parnami.
Excited about winning Jaipur zila parishad, BJP supporters gathered at the state party headquarters in large numbers on Friday. Dr Kanhaiyalal Meena, a former minister of state in the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government, is considered to be one of the most favourable candidates for the post of Jaipur Zila Pramukh. Mulchand Meena is also in the race.