"Those who have done something wrong are afraid of the chowkidar," said Devendra Fadnavis (File)

The BJP's defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be a "historic blunder" and would pave the way for a "non-decisive" government that would push the country back by 50 years, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Tuesday.

He was speaking at a party function organised in Mumbai.

"It will be a historic blunder to defeat BJP in the 2019 general election. The 2019 election is not for BJP but it is important for Bharat," Mr Fadnavis claimed.

"If the BJP loses, a non-decisive government of 2009-14 (when Congress-led UPA was in power) will be repeated and India will go back by 50 years at least," he claimed, asking the gathering if they wanted such a scenario.

Hitting out the opposition parties' poll chant "chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief)", he said those who had done wrong were afraid of the "chowkidar".

Chowkidar (watchman) is a term often used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to describe himself and his style of governance.

However, the Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi have routinely taken a dig at the "chowkidar" tag over the Rafale fight jet purchase issue with the chant "chowkidar chor hai".

"Those who have done something wrong are afraid of the chowkidar," the Maharashtra Chief Minister said.

Speaking on demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, and discontent over the two exercises as alleged by opposition parties, Mr Fadnavis said, "People may have faced some trouble due to demonetisation and earlier glitches in GST implementation. But these five years of the Modi government were about practice. To run faster, you first need good practice."

He said the BJP had implemented several welfare schemes and claimed the party could "easily" win over 300 Lok Sabha seats on the back of these.

Taking a swipe at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Mr Fadnavis said the former's party had never won Lok Sabha seats in "double digits" but the former Union agriculture minister continued to harbour dreams of becoming the country's prime minister, as if it was game of musical chairs.