P Chidambaram: If at all there will be "mukt Bharat," it will be BJP-mukt

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Saturday asked his party workers not to get fooled by the BJPs propaganda of Congressmukt Bharat The leader said that if at all there was a mukt Bharat it would be BJPmuktHe said that things had changed from the time when the Congress was an unchallenged political party in India and stressed on the need to strengthen it at the booth level reminding that now elections were fought at that levelThere was a time when all that the Congress had to do was to mention the name of Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi and then millions of people would simply come to the booth and vote Chidambaram saidIt is a boothwise election now which is why in every booth we must be present We must have enough people in every booth What matters now is the number of feet on the ground he addedHe said that was the time when the Congress was an unchallenged political party in India but things had changed as they would in any countryToday more political parties have come to play important roles and more regional political parties have come he said addressing party men after launching project Shakti hereThe former finance minister said that there were only two parties today which had a national footprint one was the Congress and the other was the BJPDont let the BJP fool us Dont be overawed by the BJPs propaganda that they can ever build or have a Congress mukt Bharat that is simply not going to happen he saidIf at all there will be a mukt Bharat it will be a BJP mukt Bharat it will never be Congressmukt he addedChidambaram said sometimes the partys presence was strong and sometimes it was not as strong and added that these things would changeJust because say we lose an election in Gujarat does not mean that we are not present in that state We are present in Gujarat but we just missed it We just missed it by a whisker he saidChidambaram claimed that in Karnataka the presence of the Congress was stronger than that of the BJP as the party secured 38 per cent vote while the BJP got 36 per centWe had 2 per cent advantage in votes but we had a 24 seat deficit he said adding that the analysis showed that in coastal Karnataka the BJPs vote share went up to 50 per cent but in old Mysuru it dropped to almost 17 per centThe vote can go up in some areas and come down in some which means it can make a big difference to the seats said Chidambaram and claimed that the Congress presence was more or less uniform across the stateHe launched project Shakti in Karnataka for the Congress workers with an aim to strengthen the partys ground organisation by connecting workers across every booth village block town and districtsParty workers could enroll in the project by sending an SMS containing their voter ID card number to a dedicated number party officials said adding that Shakti would enable boothlevel workers to engage with local leadership on various issuesEmphasising the need for micromanagement of every booth Chidambaram set August 15 as the deadline for enrollment of lakhs of the workers for the projectMassive enrollment should take place beginning today and we must have some result by August 15Im absolutely sure with Project Shakti the Congress will multiply its numbers dramatically and in months to come we will have a very strong ground force and get ready for the Parliament election whenever it takes place he addedWith Inputs from IANSCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates