BJP will retain four states; do better than expected in Punjab: Nadda

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, March 5

Exuding confidence of retaining States it currently holds— Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa, and Uttarakhand—the BJP on Saturday said it would do “better than expected” in Punjab, a state it fought in an alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) in these elections.

Speaking with mediapersons at the end of the campaign to the five Assemblies, including the marathon seven-phase for UP, BJP chief JP Nadda said he was confident that state government’s works and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies will translate into votes for the party.

“We received a very positive response from people, which we sensed while campaigning. The way Prime Minister has empowered the poor, oppressed, deprived and exploited, the positive impact was visible,” Nadda said.

Home Minister Amit Shah added that PM Modi began an era of the “politics of performance in India instead of that of ‘parivarvaad’ (nepotism), ‘jativaad’ (casteism) and ‘tushtikaran’ (appeasement). “The BJP is returning to power, including in UP, with ‘prachand bahumat’ (complete majority). There was no ‘kante ki takkar’ (close fight),” Shah said, dismissing the claims of the main rival Samajwadi Party.

So far as Punjab is concerned, Nadda said this was the first time the BJP contested 65 seats in the state. “Before this, we were limited to 23 seats and confined to the NDA dharma,” Nadda said, adding that henceforth the party will work towards strengthening cadres at booth-level in the state.

On who will form a government in Punjab, Shah said: “Stithi mazboot karne ka matalab ye bhi hai ki hum sarkar banane ki stithi main hai.” In other words, according to Shah, “doing better than expected” did not mean the BJP will not form a government in Punjab. Regarding the impact of farmers’ protests, Shah said the issue “only remained in the minds of journalists”.

“This is the first time any Indian Prime Minister has seen such popularity, which is why we are saying with confidence that we are returning to power in four states that we have governments in and improving our situation in a much better way in Punjab,” Shah said.

“We saw it in the response of the people to Prime Minister’s rallies in all the states, giving us confidence that the BJP is returning to power in a major way in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.

“We will not require anyone’s help in forming the government in UP,” Shah added on whether the party was still open to an alliance with RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary, “The BJP is forming a government in UP with a ‘prachand bahumat’ and will not require anyone’s help. Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur will also see a BJP government with complete majority,” Shah said.

The Home Minister also said that India’s response to Ukraine crisis has had a positive effect on elections and the country. “The PM had made arrangements, an advisory was issued on February 15 and Russian-speaking teams were sent to the neighbouring countries. There has been a positive impact in the elections and in the country. And when Modiji met the students, they thanked him and expressed happiness and also gave him good wishes to win the elections,” he said.