Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralanext target for BJP: Nadda

BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday cited the party’s maiden assembly poll win in Odisha last year to assert that its next targets are the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala which have so far eluded its determined push to capture power amid its nationwide growth.
Addressing party leaders after inaugurating the party’s three district offices each in Delhi and Haryana, Nadda underlined the BJP’s successful march in the past decade, saying poll results nowadays inevitably lead to celebrations at its national headquarters.
“It is a very flourishing situation for us. We do not have to stop here. Our eyes are on Tamil Nadu. Our eyes are on Kerala. We have taken Odisha. Our eyes are on West Bengal,” he said, asserting that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling party has the most popular leader in the world.
He noted that the BJP is in power in 19 states — on its own in 13 states and with its allies in six. It has come to power in five of the 13 states for a third straight term, he added.
It is now for BJP members to make full use of the opportune period and take the number of states where its alliance is in power to 24 and 25, he said.
“It is our good fortune that the world’s most popular leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi is our leader,” he said, claiming that the BJP is the only party with an ideological base and which does not swing like a pendulum depending on the flow of current.
In this context, the BJP president recalled the party’s foundational stand since the days of its progenitor Jana Sangh against special rights given to Jammu and Kashmir and its decades-long campaign in favour of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Both of which were fulfilled under the Modi government, he added.
The programme was organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founding president of the Jana Sangh.
Nadda recalled how leaders of other parties used to mock the BJP and question its economic policies earlier, but the party thrived while its rivals waned, and credited its ideology, cadres and leadership for the growth.
He spoke about the Modi government’s handling of the Covid crisis and the recent Operation Sindoor that targeted terror sites in Pakistan and subsequent conflict with the neighbouring country to laud the prime minister’s leadership.
He referred to the growth in mobile manufacturing and defence exports, besides the infrastructure work, to highlight the development carried out by the government.