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In a passing reference to BJP’s defeat in Delhi, Shah told the national executive meeting that the party’s state unit is analysing the reasons for what was a minor setback in Delhi. He appealed to party leaders to work hard to ensure a majority government in Bihar.
“The party should never become arrogant in victory and frustrated in defeat,” Shah said. The BJP was the only political party with strong internal democracy, he said.
Shah said he was confident the Central government “under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership” will continue to rule for a “long time”. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar briefing the media said Shah was confident the Modi government will rule for 15 to 20 years.
The BJP president took potshots at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s claims of internal democracy but was mostly silent on his own party’s debacle in the February elections, having won only three of the 70 Assembly seats.
He said the new government in Delhi had won on the plank of Jan Lokpal but “thrown out their internal Lokpal”. Shah said a party that talked about internal democracy has picked people to be sacked from the party.
On J&K, Shah said the BJP being part of the government will strengthen nationalist forces.
Shah also lauded the BJP-run state governments to have brought anti-cow slaughter laws.
Shah said the Janata Dal (United) and BJP coalition had won the 2010 Assembly elections but the JD(U) walked out of the alliance by ditching the people’s mandate and that it betrayed the people of Bihar. He said there was widespread discontent in Bihar because of “jungle raj part 2”. “The people of Bihar are looking at the BJP with hope,” Shah said.
The JD(U) had ended its alliance with the BJP in Bihar in June 2013. Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP, an ally of over a decade-and-a-half, when it decided to announce the then Gujarat CM name as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. The JD (U) was routed in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar and Kumar quit, installing Jitan Ram Manjhi as the CM. Manjhi quit in end February and Kumar made a comeback as the CM with the support of the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
He also shared the success of the BJP’s membership drive, and how the party now has the data of over 90 million members.
