Micro-planning, management pays off for Kiran Sarnaik

By Pravin Kapile :

Amravati,

Micro-planning and management has been the success mantra for BJP in recent elections held all over country. Adv Kiran Sarnaik also adopted the same to surprise one and all in the result of Amravati Division Teachers Constituency election declared on Friday. The counting process that lasted for more than 40 hours has brought to fore various shades of Adv Sarnaik, who stuck to the counting centre till the end. Throughout the counting process, he was cool and calm and only smiled when Piyush Singh, Divisional Commissioner announced his victory.

His polling agents and representatives at the centre, too, were well disciplined and never overjoyed despite Sarnaik’s victory was evident. Sarnaik was not even considered in the race till the counting began. However, his lead taken right from the first preferential count till the end has surprised one and all. He proved all the psephologist wrong. His victory is even special when BJP and Shiv Sena supported by Maha Vikas Aghadi had also fielded their candidates for the first time and traditional teachers’ organisations such as Vidarbha Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh, Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad and Vidarbha Junior College Teachers Association were contesting the election.

Independent Shekhar Bhoyar and Sangeeta Shinde, who were consistently fight for teachers right from group-level to government-level also were in fray and all of them have entered into the election with full strength. Amongst all these candidates who have done extensive campaigning with all resources, Sarnaik was not even in a frame and only shot to fame when offence for luring voters through sarees and cash was registered against him. Sarnaik had started his preparations for polls about one-nd-half year back and has made deep study of the issues and requirements of the teachers. Accordingly, he drafted strategy to reach up to these teachers through his team formed comprising of hundreds of employees working in his educational institutes, which he considered as a family.

He adopted the BJP policy of micro planning and management which eventually paid off for him. He smartly captured the disappointment about sitting MLC Shrikant Deshpande among the voters and succeeded in convincing the voters about the importance of his victory. His vigorous campaigning was impossible to go unnoticed. His one-on-one interaction with the teachers ultimately proved to be fruitful. The ground work he has done proved effective and fruitful for him. However, sitting MLC Shrikant Deshpande’s overconfidence and lack of support from Mahavikas Aghadi leaders sank his sheep. Sangeeta Shinde and Shekhar Bhoyar were also competent candidates, but their network in all the five districts proved short. Similarly, traditional teachers’ organisations like VMSS, VIJUCTA and Shikshak Sangh failed miserably and even their members probably have not voted for their candidates. BJP’s decision to field its candidate at the eleventh hour also proved wrong for the party.