By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 12: Despite being active in Meghalaya for over four decades, the State BJP has failed to significantly increase its tally of MLAs. Acknowledging this, the party has identified its inability to sustain grassroots support as a key reason and has resolved to focus entirely on strengthening its base ahead of the 2028 elections.
“To form the government or win more seats in the state, we need a strong grassroots organization. We’ve realized that whenever we start building it, for one reason or another, it fails to progress and we have to start over,” said BJP leader Gagan Jain.
According to him, this cycle has been going on “for donkey’s years,” and the party has now firmly decided to build and consolidate its grassroots presence.
“Unless we strengthen the grassroots and establish booth-level committees, we cannot win elections.
The entire focus of the BJP in the next three years will be on grassroots building,” he emphasised.
Reflecting on the party’s journey in Meghalaya, Jain recalled that the BJP has been contesting elections since the 1990s. Its peak came in the early 2000s when it managed to win three seats — two in East Khasi Hills and one in Garo Hills.
Though the party lost its foothold during the UPA years, it made a comeback in 2018, securing two seats — a performance it repeated in the 2023 Assembly elections.
He noted that the State BJP has consistently maintained a vote share of around 10 percent, and successive Lok Sabha elections have shown encouraging numbers. The best performance came in 2014 when former state BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh garnered 97,000 votes.
“We will continue to work at the grassroots and keep striving until we form the government. We remain positive and are moving ahead with full strength,” he added.
