New Delhi, March 5
The Bharatiya Janata Party said on Saturday that it was confident of retaining the states it already holds—remarks that curtains come down over the marathon election campaign in five states: Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand.
Elections for the last phase of the seven-phase elections ended on Saturday. On Monday, 54 assembly constituencies from districts Mau, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, and Bhadohi will vote in the last phase of the seven-phase elections.
Votes will be counted on March 10.
BJP national president JP Nadda told reporters at a press conference that he was confident that BJP governments’ work will be translated into votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-poor policies have got a positive response, he said.
“This we all saw while campaigning in these elections,” he said.
Nadda claimed that the projects had helped generate employment but did not give numbers to substantiate his claims.
“We believe that in all the four states the BJP is coming back to power with a good majority,” he said.
The BJP lead National Democratic Alliance holds power in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The BJP stitched up an alliance with Naga People’s Front and the National Peoples Party, one from the Lok Janshakti Party in Manipur to form a government despite the fact that the Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the 60 member assembly.
The Punjab question
In Punjab, Nadda said, his party got a “positive response” and was likely to exceed its own expectations. Punjab remains elusive grounds for a party that has made significant gains into what were formerly unchartered territories, such as West Bengal.
The BJP had allied with former Congressman Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress to fight for Punjab’s 117 assembly seats.
“This is the first time we contested 65 seats. All our efforts have shown a positive response in Punjab,” Nadda said. “Before this, we were limited to 23 seats and confined to NDA dharma.”
He said his party would now strengthen the BJP’s booth-level cadre in Punjab.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who’s considered the BJP master strategist for elections, said his party fought the elections in a “scientific manner”.
“In the BJP, right from PM to the booth level, all campaigned in an organised fashion to highlight issues and bring our achievements before the people,” Shah said.
He said his party was confident of retaining its states and improving its tally in Punjab.
“We saw it in the response of the people to Prime Minister’s rallies in all the states, which gives us confidence that the BJP is returning to power in a major way in Uttar Pradesh,” Shah said.
No equal in UP
The BJP has no equal in Uttar Pradesh, Nadda said.
Shah, when asked if he was open to an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary, said his party was confident of forming a government in the state with a “prachand bahumat” (massive mandate).
“We will not require anyone’s help in forming the government in UP,” he said.
This comes months after Chaudhary publicly dismissed Shah’s invitation to join the NDA, choosing instead to contest the elections with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Will retain our states, improve tally in Punjab, says BJP as marathon election enters final phase
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