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BJP back in saddle in four states, now HP, Gujarat’s turn: Nadda
BJP president sounds poll bugle in home state, attacks AAP and Congress; CM Jai Ram Thakur and Union minister Anurag Thakur urge workers to reach out and help Nadda hit a six with HP, Gujarat
BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday said that the party’s resounding victory in four of the five states that went to the polls recently was a stamp of approval on the policies and programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing party workers at a felicitation function organised by the Himachal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nadda said: “We have returned to power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and now it’s Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat’s turn.” Both states go to the polls this year-end.
This was Nadda’s first visit to his home state since the February-March assembly elections. He took part in a roadshow with chief minister Jai Ram Thakur before addressing the public meeting at Hotel Peterhoff in Shimla.
Lists out many firsts in UP
Nadda said the BJP had achieved many firsts in the UP elections. “A party has come back to power in UP for the first time in 38 years. Also, a chief minister has taken oath for the second consecutive term,” said Nadda, adding that the BJP had swept 23 districts in the recent elections.
On the other hand, Nadda said, candidates of the Congress, which ruled the country for 70 years, forfeited their security deposit in 387 of the 399 constituencies it contested.
Taking a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he said, “A new party was creating a lot of noise before the elections. But its candidates forfeited security deposits in all 377 constituencies it contested.”
Nadda said in neighbouring Uttarakhand also, a government has been voted back to power for the first time since the state came into being.
“Under BJP rule, Manipur where blockades were frequent and insurgency on the rise, has turned into a state of peace and prosperity. For the first time, the BJP has formed a government in the northeastern state on its own,” he said, adding that his party had scored a hat-trick in Goa.
‘BJP gave projects, Congress took away’
Maintaining that Himachal Pradesh has scaled new heights in terms of development under Jai Ram Thakur’s leadership, Nadda said party workers should reach out to the masses and publicise the policies and programmes of the state government.
The BJP president said that Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a pharma hub and new projects were coming up.
“Nobody could have thought that a small state like Himachal would one day have an AIIMS, an IIM, and six medical colleges. All these are gifts of the Modi-led government,” he said.
“You may have forgotten, but isn’t it a fact that whenever there was a Congress government at the Centre, it snatched away the rights of Himachal? Remember how the Manmohan Singh government scrapped the special category status of Himachal and ended the industrial package granted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led regime. Modi not only restored the special category state status but 90:10 funding, too. The Kol Dam project was envisaged in the 1960s but completed during the BJP regime in the early 2000s. Similarly, the Atal Tunnel was completed by the Modi government,” he added.
Says Modi has changed political culture
He said that other parties only divided people on regional and communal lines as was evident during the UP poll campaign, while the BJP government worked to proactively evacuate 23,000 Indian students stranded in the war zone in Ukraine.
Nadda said Modi has changed the political culture of India, which has now become work-oriented. “Our opponents don’t have any leader, intent, programme and workers which we have and I am confident that the BJP will win Himachal Pradesh in the assembly elections,” he said.
Earlier, in his address, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur listed out his government’s achievements despite challenges, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said Himachal may be a small state but is performing bigger responsibilities as the BJP national president belongs to the state and Union minister Anurag Thakur also holds important portfolios.
“We have broken all previous records in creating road infrastructure in our tenure,” he said.
He expressed confidence that like the four states, Himachal would also break away from the tradition of alternating governments every five years.
Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that the next nine months were crucial and party workers must sweat it out to ensure the BJP’s victory in the elections.
He said since the national president has to take care of the entire country, the responsibility is bigger for Himachal’s BJP workers. “The BJP has hit a four in the assembly elections under the leadership of Nadda ji and we will turn it into a six by winning Himachal and Gujarat,” he added.
