Victory indicative of people’s stamp on Modi’s performance, says Shah

New Delhi: Terming the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) performance in the assembly elections in Assam, Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry as “a victory of positive politics and the defeat of negative campaigns”, party president Amit Shah on Thursday said the poll results are indicative of people’s stamp on works carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in the past two years.

“The poll results are indicative of people’s stamp on works carried out by the Narendra Modi government in the past two years. It is a victory of positive politics and defeat of negative campaign. I can see a new beginning of politics and performance in the country,” Shah said while addressing a press conference after the election results of the five states were out.

Expressing his gratitude to the people of Assam, Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry for supporting his party in the lately concluded assembly elections, the BJP president said his party had worked very hard to lay a strong foundation in those states for the 2019 elections and he was confident of securing victory at that time.

“When electioneering had started, the BJP did not have good statistics for these five states, where the party had never performed well in the election politics. But this election, the BJP worked hard to lay a strong foundation in these states for the 2019 elections. I am confident that our cadre will be able to build a strong premise on this edifice for the success in the 2019 elections,” said Shah.

“It is a matter of happiness that the BJP performed well in all five states, and the people of these states gave their acceptance to the party,” said Shah, adding that BJP workers worked very hard to strengthen the party’s edifice from Kerala to Kashmir and Kutch to Kamrup.

Attacking the opposition Congress party, he said people, who disrupted the functioning of Parliament on one pretext or the other, voters shown them their place.

Chanting BJP’s slogan of a “Congress-free India”, Shah said, “We have moved two more steps in this direction.”

“As far as Assam is concerned,” he said, “for the first time the BJP will be forming its government in northeast.”

“The NDA coalition, comprising BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodos, got huge success, securing two-third majority in the Assam assembly. The BJP, however, got the required seats to form an independent government,” he added.

Talking about his party’s performance in Bengal, he said, the BJP had received 4.6 percent votes in the 2011 assembly elections, whereas in the present election, we have received 10.7 percent almost 11 percent votes which indicates that we have increased our vote share two and a half times. The NDA is likely to receive six seats as the counting is still on.”

In Kerala, he said, the BJP had prepared an expansion programme to expand its base, which received huge success. “In the last election, the BJP had got six percent votes, whereas in this election, the NDA, comprising BJP and Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), got around 15 percent votes. Thus, there is a three-fold increase in the NDA’s vote and have also won a seat,” he said.

“However, we have maintained our success graphs intact in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which has not declined,” he added.

“In Jharkhand, the BJP has won one seat; in Gujarat, BJP won one seat in the bypoll; and in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has won both the seats, but the BJP got 45 and 37 percent votes on both seats,” he added.

Hailing the victory in Assam as “big”, he said, “The victory in Assam is very important, because it’s a big thing that the BJP emerged victorious in a state, where the Congress was ruling for the past 10 years.”

In a message to the people of Assam, the BJP chief said, “I would like to assure the people of Assam that the NDA under the leadership of the BJP is determined to make Assam a developed state.”

In Assam, the BJP so far won 60 seats on its own in the 126-seat House, while its ally AGP won 13 seats and its another ally BPF won 11 seats. The BJP has thus made a history by winning an assembly election in any north-eastern state.

In West Bengal, TMC won 185 seats, well above the 50 per cent mark in the 294-seat assembly. The Congress-Left combine took 68 seats, while the BJP bagged two seats. Independents and others won four seats.

In Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) touched the halfway mark by winning 116 seats in the 232-seat assembly, while the results for 32 seats are yet to come out. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) bagged 74 seats, while Congress bagged nine seats and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) one seat.

In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) returned to power by winning 85 of the total 140 seats, trouncing the ruling the United Democratic Front (UDF), which could bag only 46 seats.

The BJP,however, opened its account in the state by winning one seat, while eight seats won by others.

In Puducherry, the Congress won 15 seats and its alliance partner the DMK two seats, giving it a majority in the 30-seat House to form a government. The All India N R Congress (AINRC) bagged eight seats and the AIADMK has won four seats, while one seat went to an Independent. (ANI)