Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik Tuesday defended the party's performance in the state, arguing that it was better than that of other parties including the Congress which won eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats.
Asked about Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's defeat from Amritsar, Malik said, "Out of three seats we contested, we won two. It puts our success rate at 67 per cent."
"You can compare our performance with any party, be it the Congress or the AAP. Our success ratio is better," he argued.
Puri, a former diplomat, failed to win the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. Malik, a Rajya Sabha member, belongs to the holy city.
The BJP had contested from three seats in Punjab -- Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar. But it lost the last.
Malik defended the party's performance in the state while evading a question if he would take the blame for Puri losing from Amritsar.
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"As far as the question of Amritsar is concerned, our performance has improved significantly. Whatever was the poll result from Amritsar seat, we are grateful to the voters, Malik told reporters here on the sidelines of the party's state unit meeting.
On taking the blame for the party's defeat from Amritsar, he retorted, "I am not the president of Amritsar. I am the president of Punjab (unit of the BJP). You tell us which party fared better than us. We won two out of three seats contested.
The BJP failed to break the jinx of defeat at the Amritsar seat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls for the third time.
Earlier in the 2014 general elections, BJP candidate Arun Jaitley had lost to Congress nominee Amarinder Singh.
In 2017 Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll, Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla defeated BJP nominee Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina.
Malik said his party's performance has improved in 14 assembly segments during the last Lok Sabha polls.
We could win three assembly seats only out of 23 contested in 2017 assembly polls. But in Lok Sabha polls, we were ahead in 14 assembly segments, he said.
To a question on seeking larger chunk of seats from its ally Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab BJP chief said it was not the time for getting into such things.
My immediate priority will be to ensure that benefits of central schemes reach every household in the wake of the mandate given by voters to the party, he said.
A few days ago, former BJP chief Kamal Sharma said the party workers had demanded more seats, exceeding its quota as per the seat-sharing formula between the saffron outfit and its Akali ally.
As per the old seat-sharing formula between the BJP and SAD, saffron party contests three parliamentary seats out of total 13 seats and 23 assembly seats out of 117.
Malik also took potshots at differences between Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The Congress is facing infighting. Amarinder is trying to protect his chair while Sidhu is making efforts to grab it from him, said Malik.
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