Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Gorta/Bidar, Seeking to downplay the setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the by-elections to Lok Sabha and assembly seats in various states, BJP National President Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the party would display its popularity by sweeping the forthcoming assembly elections in four states.
“Do not come to a conclusion on the party’s popularity merely on the basis of by-poll results. Wait for the forthcoming assembly elections to four different states (Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand). We will make them Congress-free,” he remarked at a programme organised to lay the foundation for a martyrs’ memorial in Gorta village of Bidar district where, according to the BJP, the henchmen of the Nizam killed nearly 200 persons for trying to hoist the national flag.
Asking the party workers not to be disappointed over by-poll results, he said, instead they should now completely engage themselves in the preparations for the forthcoming elections to four state assemblies.
Claiming that there was a wave in favour of change in Maharashtra and Haryana states, which are going to polls on October 15, he asked the party workers to prepare for victory celebrations on October 17 when the results would be announced.
“Our opponents are happy over the by-poll results as they think that it is a setback for the BJP. But they do not want to see that the BJP has opened its accounts in Assam and also won a seat in West Bengal,” he said.
He hailed Sardar Vallabbhai Patel for his ensuring the accession of 350 princely states and provinces in the union of India after independence. He said the Kashmir problem would have been resolved and Pakistan would not have occupied parts of Kashmir if Mr. Patel had been given the responsibility of tackling Kashmir problem instead of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Defending the government’s decision to suspend talks with Pakistan for holding parallel consultations with separatist leaders from Kashmir, he said, “We are for maintaining cordial relations with our neighbours. But our topmost priority is country’s security.”
