March 20, 2016
On Day 2 of the National executive meet of the BJP, Union minister and senior party leader Arun Jaitley said the party will "increase its presence" in the upcoming assembly elections.
March 20, 2016
On Day 2 of the National executive meet of the BJP, Union minister and senior party leader Arun Jaitley said the party will "increase its presence" in the upcoming assembly elections.
"We will improve our position in all the five states. Our alliance in Assam is at centre-stage… we are the leader of that alliance. The politics will change in Kerala. We will try to increase our voteshare in Bengal," he added.
The upcoming elections in four states – Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu – was on agenda on the Day 2 of the BJP's national executive meet.
But all four states where elections will be held this year are governed by the opposition where the BJP traditionally does not have a prominent presence – Congress in Assam, Trinamool Congress in Bengal, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and Congress-led UDF in Kerala.
The BJP needs to do well in Assembly elections to improve its numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, where it is in minority. A number of key bills, including reform bills like the flagship Goods and Services Tax bill, have been blocked in Rajya Sabha by the opposition.
Mr. Jaitley, however, took a dig at the Congress, saying it has "lowered its level of ambition" and is "quite content to become the tail of the alliance".
Mentioning Uttarakhand, where the Harish Rawat-led Congress government is in jeopardy following rebellion by eight of its lawmakers who have joined the BJP, he said, there was a "deep division in the Congress in Uttarakhand", which should not be attributed to the BJP.
The rural theme of the Union Budget was the highlight of the economic resolution passed on the first day with the BJP claiming that never before so much money was allocated to the sector, including for rural credit, irrigation and roads.
The two-day national executive meet at Delhi's NDMC Convention Centre will be concluded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech.
Courtesy: NDTV
