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The next government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre would be formed with the backing of south and the eastern parts of the country and the new state of Telangana would lead the way, said party’s newly-elected president Amit Shah on Thursday.
His remarks comes in the light of the party leadership’s much anticipated move to expand its influence in the South beyond Karnataka, especially in the two sibling states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, with an eye to win a substantial number of seats in the 2019 elections.
Shah’s first visit to Hyderabad as party president provided a perfect timing for its local cadre as the city, which had faced the effects of much of the communal polarisation in the past, is going to municipal polls in 3-4 months.
Addressing a meeting of party workers after arriving this evening from Uttar Pradesh, Shah told the local leadership to go to the villages taking the message of the party and dedicate themselves for the development of the new state. The BJP was the only national party to adopt a resolution in favour of the state bifurcation in the early 90s as the creation of separate Telangana state was a just demand, he said while accusing the Congress party of mishandling the state division.
“You all know that the BJP had formed the government at the Centre on the back of support extended by western, central and northern regions of India. Though we won a relatively few number of seats in the South, people still voted for Narendra Modi. But these two states and the rest of the South as well as the eastern region will become the support base to form the next government,” he said while asking the leaders to work in that direction.
He complimented the chief ministers of Telangana and AP for their recent meeting with an aim to to settle issues through dialogue. He said the party would fully support the two leaders in their effort to cooperate with each other for the development of their states.
Criticising Sonia Gandhi’s remarks that the BJP had come to power by making false promises, he reminded the UPA president of their election promise about controlling the price rise in 100 days after coming to power.
“But your party stayed in power for 10 long years and you could never fulfil that one single promise. Whereas we will fulfil all the promises made in our manifesto before seeking the mandate for a second time in the 2019 elections,” he said.
The state BJP leaders said they would work with an aim to form the government in Telangana in 2019 elections.
