The BJP is confident of forming the government in the four states where it is already in power, with “impressive gains” in Punjab and a “massive majority” in Uttar Pradesh. With just a few days left for the counting of votes, union home minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in the five poll-bound states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur – “was more than that of any earlier prime minister”.
Addressing a joint press conference in Delhi on Saturday, Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda exuded confidence about the BJP’s fate. The seventh and final phase of the assembly elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh on March 7.
The top BJP leaders said those hoping for any dilution in the party’s mandate will be disappointed. “People will give BJP a good majority in four states where it is in power,” Nadda said.
Calling the BJP’s poll campaign “scientific and well-organised”, Shah said, “We saw Prime Minister Modi’s popularity in five poll-bound states was more than that of any earlier prime minister.”
Shah said earlier in Uttar Pradesh, policies were only mentioned and restricted to paper but now they had been implemented on the ground for the first time. “92.6 per cent promises have been delivered. It was exceptional to see how people of Varanasi welcomed PM Modi,” Shah said.
He further said Manipur will become another state where the BJP will form the government on its own. In 2017, the BJP formed the government in a pre-poll alliance with two regional parties – National People’s Party and Naga People’s Front.
Once again, taking a dig at “dynastic” parties, Shah said the BJP believed in “politics of performance” rather than dynasty politics and appeasement.
Nadda recalled the challenges faced during the election campaigning amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the Omicron variant proving to be a major obstacle in best laid plans by political parties. “We all know that campaigning has now come to an end. The initial phase of election was during the Covid-19 threat and amid safety guidelines. We thank the people of all the five states that they followed all Covid protocols. Even our party tried hard to reach out to the masses amid restrictions,” he added.
Talking about Goa, Nadda said the state had become “self-reliant” and presented a completely different picture than before. On Uttarakhand, he said the BJP-led government had spent extensively on all-weather road and Char Dham Yatra projects. Manipur, he said, was a state of insurgency and turmoil but had witnessed none in the last five years. “As far as Punjab is concerned, with Dhindsa and Amarinder (Singh), we have an alliance and we are expecting good results from this state,” Nadda said, adding, “be it Kartarpur, FCRA registration for Golden Temple or GST-free langar, these were all central initiatives.”
A total of 690 Assembly constituencies have voted over the next two months, with the maximum in UP (403 seats) followed by Punjab (117), Uttarakhand (70), Manipur (60) and Goa (40). The BJP is already preparing for the next round of assembly elections. The saffron party is likely to reshuffle its state incharges soon with focus on upcoming elections in poll-bound states.
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