Our rivals won, but we didn’t lose: Shah

NEW DELHI: Its rivals may have won in the recent assembly election, but the Bharatiya Janata Party has not lost, party chief Amit Shah said here on Monday, in his first public statement over the party’s recent defeat in assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Speaking at the BJP’S national council meeting here on Saturday, Shah said a defeat means a situation that the Congress faced in Uttar Pradesh or when it had to search for seats in states such as Bihar and West Bengal.

In the Uttar Pradesh assembly election in 2017, the BJP won 312 seats in the 403-seat assembly on its own with its allies winning 13. The Congress won seven seats. In the Lok sabha election in 2014, in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won 71 of 80 seats on its own with its ally winning 2. The Congress won 2.

“The results (in the recent elections) were not good. Our rivals won, but we did not lose. We have not lost our ground. The workers need not lose their hope,” Shah said.

“The results should inspire us to work harder in the national election.”

He mounted an attack on the Congress, saying the “cancer” of casteism, nepotism and appeasement policy was its contribution, which, he said “weakened the democracy and halted development”. Shah said the BJP will continue to fight these ills.

Shah said the parliamentary elections due later this year are very important for the BJP and all workers of the party should ensure that their family and friends cast their vote by 10.30 am on polling day.

“Lok Sabha elections are very important for us. If we manage a massive victory, the BJP will rule the country from Panchayat to Parliament for a long time,” he said.

He asked his party workers to ensure that every voter is contacted in an intensive campaign. Shah asked them to go back to their respective states with a pledge to ensure BJP’S victory and make Narendra Modi prime minister for a second term.