NEW DELHI: The BJP is upbeat over the results of the Rajasthan panchayat samiti and zila parishad election and has attributed the success to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government led by him.
Coming close on the heels of major gains in the recent Bihar assembly elections and the Hyderabad civic body polls, the Rajasthan panchayat samiti and zila parishad poll results are expected to come as a shot in the arm for the BJP ahead of key state elections next year.
The party ruling at the centre says their next target and destination is West Bengal which is expected to face assembly election in April-May next year.
The BJP had emerged as the second largest party in the Bihar elections, winning 74 of the 243 assembly seats and just one short of the RJD. It also came second in the Hyderabad municipal elections winning 48 of the 150 wards. The ruling TRS won 55 seats. The BJP had won just four seats in the 2016 GHMC elections.
Talking to timesofindia.com, BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said the party’s “spectacular performance” in the Rajasthan local elections was an alarm for the Congress that it was time for it to go.
He alleged that the Congress government of Rajasthan used all its might in the elections but the BJP surged ahead of the ruling party in the state.
Hussain, who is also a member of the BJP’s high-profile national election committee, said the Congress’s poor performance could be a result of its "internal contradictions, infighting and the state government’s poor performance".
No one is ready to board the sinking ship, he added.
The former Union minister said, “It is pleasant news for the BJP. After its spectacular performance in the Bihar assembly elections last month and the Hyderabad municipal elections earlier this month, the Rajasthan panchayat samiti and zila parishad poll results are certainly a positive development for the party.”
“Kashmir mein bhi kamal khilega. Phir Bengal ki baari hai (The lotus will bloom also in Kashmir. The next would be West Bengal,” he said.
Local elections in Kashmir are due on December 13 while West Bengal is expected to go to polls next year.
Hussan added the Modi wave is intensifying despite the BJP’s opponents coming together.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working like a “sankat mochan” (alluding to Lord Hanuman), who solves everyone’s problems, including Covid-19. In an obvious dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said the Prime Minister did not believe in doing "political tourism" unlike Congress leaders.
“Jo namumkin hai, usko bhi Modi mumkin kar detey hain (Modi makes possible the impossible tasks). That is why he lives in the heart of people - from east to west and north to south,” the BJP leader said.
Another BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said the party’s victory in the panchayat elections was the confirmation that people at the grassroots level were voting in favour of Narendra Modi government’s policy which was for all sections of the society, including the farmers.
“It also demolishes the Congress party’s manufactured and spurious narrative that people at the grassroots are unhappy with the BJP,” Kohli added.
The BJP has won 1,835 panchayat samiti seats while the Congress has managed 1,718 when the results for 4,050 seats were announced. The total number of seats is 4,371 in 222 panchayat samities where elections were held.
The leads for zila parishads are also similar, with the BJP winning 312 seats while the Congress managing only 239 when results for 580 seats were announced. The total number of seats is 636.
The polling to elect 636 zila parishad members and 4,371 panchayat samiti members was held in four phases in 21 districts of Ajmer, Banswara, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chhitorgarh, Churu, Dungarpur, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sikar, Tonk and Usaipur.
The results will decide the fate of 1,778 candidates in zila parishad and 12,663 in panchayat samiti elections.