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In first reaction to state polls setback, Amit Shah makes point about 2019
Amit Shah also downplayed the connection being made between the state elections and the impending 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Wednesday said the party has accepted the results of the recently-concluded assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. But it is imperative and in the country’s “best interests”, he said, that his party wins the next elections in the Hindi heartland and other areas.
He also downplayed the connection being made between the state elections and the impending 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“The results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are definitely not favourable for the BJP, but it is not right to link them with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. State polls can’t be linked to Lok Sabha poll results; both elections are fought on separate issues. We accept the people’s mandate (in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh); we will introspect on the poll results,” Amit Shah said at Republic Summit in Mumbai.
“It is imperative not only for the BJP but also for the country that the BJP wins the next elections in the Hindi heartland and other areas,” he said.
The BJP has suffered a massive blow with the loss of the three main Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the Congress in a very closely-contested election. In Rajasthan, the Congress won 99 seats out of the 199 that went to poll, while in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP managed to win 109 seats against the Congress’s 114. The Congress formed the government in both states with the help of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Independents.
Amit Shah also spoke about the looming threat of a ‘mahagathbandan’ (grand alliance) and said that the reality of the opposition’s alliance was different. “It doesn’t exist and is a ‘bhranti’ (an illusion),” he said.
On December 17, led by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the opposition had put up a show of unity with the top leaders of the grand alliance attending the swearing in ceremonies of Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh and Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh. Conspicuous by their absence at all three ceremonies were the two big guns of Uttar Pradesh politics Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. Both of them had opted to stay away from the swearing in ceremonies without giving any reason for their decision.
A day after the election results were announced, BSP supremo Mayawati had offered her party’s support to the Congress with the objective of “keeping the BJP out”. However, while announcing her support for the Congress, she had also let in a taunt saying that her party was supporting the Congress even though their ideologies were different.
