With an eye on the Lok Sabha elections next year, the BJP will focus on winning all the nine assembly elections scheduled to be held this year. Not just good performance, the BJP needs to retain the party-run state government, while dislodging the opposition-run states like Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. BJP president J.P. Nadda said the party cadre should work hard to achieve this goal.
Nadda was speaking during the inauguration of the BJP’s two-day national executive meeting held in Delhi to strategise for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Before the meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a road show to celebrate the Gujarat victory where the party had won unprecedented 156 seats, largest number by any party in the state. Party cadre and supporters lined up in the over a kilometer long route to the venue of the meeting as Modi held the roadshow in his official vehicle. The party had gathered people in numbers, along with performers from different states along the route to play their local beats.
The meeting venue was decked in party colours, with slogans of welfare of poor, and cut outs of technological advancements like Vande Bharat train, Rafale jets, Brahmos, satellites and navy warship on one side, while cultural sites developed by the government including Kartarpur corridor, Kashi Vishwanath temple, Mahakal Temple in Ujjain, the statue of Subash Chander Bose and Sardar Patel on the other side of the venue. The BJP’s messaging was aimed at cultural renaissance along with the technological advancements in the country’s 75th year of Independence.
Nadda asked all members of the national executive to be ready with commitment to win all the nine assembly elections in 2023 as a prelude to Lok Sabha elections. “We should not lose any state,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said briefing media about Nadda’s speech.
Prasad, quoting Nadda, said the party had decided to strengthen the weak booths. “In this process, 72,000 booths were identified, 100 in one Lok Sabha seat, while 25 in an assembly seat. But the party overachieved the target as it reached 1.32 lakh booths. Being a cadre based party, BJP achieved it target,” Prasad said.
The BJP chief hailed the Gujarat victory as extraordinary, saying the party strategy of hard work be replicated in all the other states. The way Modi led from the front, the other state government should put in same hard work, Nadda said.
In case of Himachal Pradesh elections, where the BJP lost, Nadda said though the party wanted to change the tradition, it could not do so. “Earlier, the losses were minimum of five per cent, but in Himachal, the BJP lost by merely 37,000 votes—about one percent less than the winning party. It’s a matter of satisfaction, but we need to work more,” Nadda said.
In Telangana, Nadda said the manner in which people had responded to its yatra, the BJP will form the government there.
He said the party will celebrate the 200 year anniversary of Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati on February 13. The prime minister is also expected to participate in the event.
The BJP chief also talked about measures taken by the government for the poor and the marginalised. He highlighted the work being done for Ram Temple construction on the lines of temples built in the ancient India.
Nadda talked about Modi’s five resolutions announced during the last Independence Day speech. “Nadda said the world now recognises the Indian government initiatives, like President Joe Biden did for India’s Covid management or Russian president Vladamir Putin praised India’s independent foreign policy,” Prasad said citing Nadda’s speech.
Talking about the Tiranga Yatra, Nadda said 4.15 crore houses hoisted the flag. It was celebrated with fervour in North East. “It’s a great mainstreaming of the northeast in India. PM has been there many times,” Prasad said.
Nadda talked about the self reliance India was achieving in various fields, be it mobiles, autos, fintech, startups or construction of highways and border roads.