 "PM Modi cites 'team spirit' as reason for BJP's triumphs across states")
The incumbent state governments led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties had a better record of returning to power than the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, asserting that it was the "team spirit" that helped the party win the recently concluded Assembly polls.
Addressing the BJP Members of Parliament at its parliamentary party meeting, Modi said no single leader should be credited for the party's electoral triumphs. The prime minister’s remarks came in response to the warm welcome he received at the venue from party supporters, who credited him for the poll's success.
Modi said the BJP won in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and improved its performance in Telangana and Mizoram.
Modi, who uses simple direct language for slogans, advised party MPs to use "Modi ki guarantee" instead of "Modi ji ki guarantee" while taking the BJP's message to the people.
Briefing reporters on Modi’s speech, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi shared the electoral data that the prime minister cited. According to Modi, the Congress faced Assembly polls 40 times while in power in those states and could win only seven times, a dismal success rate of 18 per cent. The corresponding figures for the BJP are 22 of 39 occasions, a success rate of 56 per cent.
He said regional parties have performed better than the Congress on this parameter as these parties have won 18 of 36 times when in power, a success rate of 50 per cent. However, their record is poorer when compared to the BJP's 56 per cent.
The data, he said, shows that the BJP is the most preferred party for running the government. The BJP returned to power in Madhya Pradesh in the recent Assembly polls and after a gap of five years in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In the case of a party in power in a state for two terms facing assembly elections, the Congress' success rate is only 14 per cent compared to the BJP's 59 per cent, Modi said.