BJP will fight next Odisha polls alone, says Amit Shah

BJP chief Amit Shah on announced that his party would fight the next Odisha assembly polls alone. He also slammed the Naveen Patnaik government for its "incompetence", saying benefits of over Rs 4 lakh crore given by the Centre to the state had not reached the masses. The BJP president, who is on a three-day tour of Odisha, pitched for a younger leadership to run the state and came down heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying backwardness and poverty continued due to his government's "misrule, inefficiency and corruption". Shah, however, parried a query on who would be the BJP's face in the state, saying the party had not decided on it. "BJP will fight the next elections in Odisha alone. There will be no alliance with any other political party," Shah said at a press conference here. He also claimed that his party would win over 120 seats in the 147-member assembly.

Country made substantial progress during Modi rule: Amit Shah on Thursday said that India had made substantial progress in different sectors and carved a separate identity for itself in the international arena during three years of the NDA regime.

Citing an instance, Shah said surgical strikes had enhanced the image of India across the globe and there was recognition that the country was capable of defending its frontiers.

"The surgical strike speaks of the strong political will of the Modi government. This government can do everything to defend the country," he told reporters. India became a global leader in space technologies after the launch of at least four satellites during the NDA rule, he said, reports PTI.

Stating that there was overall transformation since the NDA had come to power, Shah said India now had one of the fastest growing economies in the world.