Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks to assess the Lok Sabha election verdict next week,senior leaders in the party are being vocal about showcasing youth leadership ahead of the Assembly polls in October. Workshops,training and showcasing the second line of leadership are among the key suggestions that will be put across for the discussions in the coming week. BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde said with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) playing spoilsport by taking away key BJP-Shiv Sena votes,strategies have to be planned to address the damage caused in its vote bank . Young dynamic leaders who have the ability to connect with the people will represent the party for the Assembly polls, he said. Maintaining that the Democratic Front government has always been non-performing,he said the party will have to reach out to those who voted for the MNS saying that it only helped a non-performing government of the Congress-NCP. On BJPs strategies for getting youth leaders,another senior leader said they had enough members and it is time that the senior leaders come to the forefront. This will help control the damage caused by the MNS, he said. With Raj Thackeray almost identified as the leader of the youth,the BJP-Sena needs to have leaders to connect with the youth at the top also. Senior BJP leader Devendra Phadnavis pointed out that with the Lok Sabha polls seeing the BJP-Shiv Sena garner 1.34 crore votes as against 1.42 crore votes of the Congress-NCP alliance,the difference is negligible. The Sena managed to bag 11 seats while the BJP secured 9 seats in Maharashtra. In 2004,the Sena had 12 seats and the BJP 13. The MNS had put up candidates in 12 constituencies this time and its candidates came second in 3 seats while it came third in the other constitituencies. While MNS candidate Ranjit Shirole polled 75,000 votes,Mayawatis BSP candidate D S Kulkarni could garner only 62,981 votes. Our votes went to the MNS, said a city BJP leader. This time with the marked presence of the MNS and the BSP,the Assembly segment needs to have leaders with whom the voters can identify.
