Bhubaneshwar: Hailing Bharatiya Janata Party’s landmark win in the Uttar Pradesh polls, party president Amit Shah said that the party has not reached its peak yet, and should have a chief minister in every state.
According to media reports, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad briefed the media about Shah’s speech at the party’s two-day national executive meet in Odisha.
Shah was also quoted as saying that the party should also come to power across levels, from Panchayat to Parliament.
Hailing the party’s victory in Uttar Pradesh, Shah also said that BJP has changed the way a big victory has been defined. He added that BJP has disproved political commentators with its win in the state, proving that its 2014 performance was not a one-off occurrence.
Also commenting on the Electronic Voting machine row, Shah said “We expected political parties to accept defeat honestly but they are making excuses and one of those excuses is EVMs. Saying such things (blaming EVMs) is equivalent to insulting the Election Commission."
He also voiced his concern over the violence in Kerala, saying that after formation of Left government killings in state have increased.
The Prime Minister earlier had a received rousing welcome as he arrived for the party’s national meet. Meeting and greeting supporters in his roadshow, he was welcomed by Shah at Janata Maidan.
Senior party leader MM Joshi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and other party leaders were also expected to be present at the meeting.
All 13 BJP chief ministers, including Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath, their deputies and 45 Union ministers are also attending the meet to prepare a roadmap for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
The leaders will discuss the BJP’s strategy to increase the party’s political footprint ahead of the 2019 general elections, while eyeing the 2019 Odisha state elections.
