Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh election results to set trend for 2019: Amit Shah

Jaipur: Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday asked party workers to sweat for victory in the coming Rajasthan Assembly election, saying the State polls will be a “trailer” for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Shah asked the cadre to work hard for winning the elections scheduled later this year without bothering about who the chief minister or a minister in the next government would be.

The party has already announced that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje would be the CM candidate again in Rajasthan.

“The results from the three major States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will set the trend for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” he said at a meeting here during his one-day Jaipur trip.

“The BJP's victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will pave the way for the party's rule for the next 50 years,” Shah said told BJP workers at the “Shakti Kendra Sammelan.”

The BJP chief said the workers should think only about the party symbol 'lotus' and Bharat Mata when they campaign. He said the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, or the grand alliance, that the opposition was talking about will have no impact except a little influence in Uttar Pradesh.

Shah said the workers should ask people what they felt about having Congress president Rahul Gandhi as prime minister, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as external affairs minister and Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav as defence minister.

“You need to tell people about this. Go to the public and highlight the work done by the Modi and the Raje governments,” he said, adding that no one could defeat the BJP in Rajasthan.

Targeting the Congress, the BJP president said the party should first make clear who is its leader and what are its policies and programmes. “Rahul Baba has the right to dream but he will wake up on the day of counting,” he said.

Shah claimed the Congress has tried to create a state of confusion in the country, and referred to lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri over alleged cow slaughter and the 2015 protest in which a group of writers returned their awards. “During elections, issues like Akhlaq or ‘award wapsi’ come up,” he said, adding, “The BJP had won elections when the Akhlaq issue and award wapsi happened and the party will win this time too even if they (Congress) bring up some other issue.”

“The Modi government or the Raje government has done nothing that you need to bow your head,” he said.

Shah said every party worker should cover at least five villages till the elections and tell people about the work done by the government, like the surgical strike against Pakistan and the increase in minimum support price for farm produce.

This is Shah's third visit since July to the poll-bound state ruled by the party.
 
Chief minister Vasundhara Raje was not present in any of the programmes of the party chief in the State capital as she continued with her ‘Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra’ in Churu district. She addressed rallies in Churu and Ratangarh and highlighted works done by government.

The chief minister targeted Congress saying the party was following a dual approach. She said that the party called Bharat Bandh on Monday but Congress ruled States took no step to reduce the burden.

Raje said that looking at the people’s hardship, she took the decision to reduce 4 per cent VAT on petrol and diesel.

Earlier in the day, Shah arrived at Sanganer airport where he was welcomed by the party’s state president Madan Lal Saini and others. From where he headed to Moti Dungari Ganesh temple and offered prayers. His vehicle was escorted by a bike rally by the party workers.

Shah addressed four events: Shakti Kendra Sammelan, Nagar Nikay (Local Bodies) Sammelan, Sahkarita (Cooperative) Sammelan And Prabuddhjan (Intellectual) Sammelan at two venues — Suraj maidan and Birla auditorium — in the present of party leaders.

Shah also met with RSS functionaries during his day long visit.

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