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After UP, BJP aims for dominance across states

BHUBANESWAR: Terming his party’s current winning streak as a milestone rather than the final point in its political journey, BJP chief Amit Shah said on Saturday that the saffron party’s best is yet to come as he outlined an ambitious plan to capitalise on PM Narendra Modi ’s popularity to achieve “Panchayat to Parliament” hegemony.Addressing the BJP national executive here, Shah said, “Many political pundits termed 2014, when we got a majority of our own in the Lok Sabha, as the party’s golden period. After we scored three-fourth majorities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, besides polling the largest number of votes in Goa and Manipur, some others said 2017 marks the golden period. Both are off the mark. The party’s best is yet to come and it will come after we have formed governments in each state.”“During the Allahabad national executive, the party had pledged to win five assembly polls, and now from the holy land of Jagannath, we are taking another resolve to win. The new resolve is to win Himachal, Gujarat and Karnataka,” Shah said, outlining an expansionist agenda. He made it clear that he did not intend to let party cadres rest until his plan to to use Modi’s popular appeal to establish BJP’s dominance has been implemented successfully.The “you ain’t seen nothing yet” tone from someone who is seen as the architect of the party’s lucky spell marked by record-shattering wins in assemblies, panchayats and urban bodies amplified the triumphant mood that has gripped the party. The upbeat mood was all the more palpable because of surprise performance in Odisha panchayat polls in which the party dislodged Congress as the principal challenger to the ruling BJD.Amid cheers from delegates, Shah said the sheer scale of the party’s win in UP after 14 years of rule by SP and BSP has put an end to the notion that BJP could prevail only against Congress and not powerful regional players.Exhorting delegates to strive hard to build upon the momentum, and ensure the party’s decisive presence across the country, Shah asked all national executive members to travel to different parts of India for a minimum of 15 days. “Party leaders should not be lazy and keep working hard,” he said.The BJP chief himself plans to travel for 95 days till September, and the itinerary does not include visits already planned in connection with the Deen Dayal Upadhyay centenary celebrations, said law and IT minister Ravishankar Prasad while briefing reporters on the proceedings, held in-camera.The focus of the gruelling schedule of Shah is to leverage the popularity BJP thinks Modi enjoys. “Modiji has developed an extraordinary connect with the common man. He has proven that only those with development as their sole agenda can rule the country,” Shah said.He said the Modi government, which completes three years in office on May 26, had already achieved more than what other governments had in three terms, and added that the goodwill for Modi would propel BJP’s expansion in new political geographies. In fact, he devoted considerable attention to Odisha, where BJP’s impressive performance in the panchayat polls has seen the party sniffing an opportunity to put up a strong challenge to CM Naveen Patnaik’s 17-year-long incumbency.“The win in UP was, unsurprisingly, a prominent theme of the presidential address with Shah terming the outcome in the largest state as a firm rejection of caste politics, dominance of one single family and also the politics of appeasement,” said Prasad quoting Shah.Coming down heavily on the parties questioning the credibility of EVMs used in the recent polls, Shah said the opposition was exploring excuses for their poor performance, which is not healthy politics. “SP and BSP won consecutively for three terms in UP. AAP won 67 of 70 seats in Delhi. Then they didn’t question EVMs. In fact, questioning EVMs is an insult to the EC,” Shah said. He also voiced concern about violence against BJP and RSS cadres in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal. However, he said the party cadres would not be intimidated.