Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by BJP leaders upon his arrival for the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting at the Parliament House.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: In his first meeting with the party’s Parliamentarians after the BJP’s recent wins in the assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the results were a team effort. He also shared data to state that the BJP is the preferred party across several states. The prime minister's remarks come amidst a discussion regarding the perception that the southern part of India does not lean towards supporting the saffron party.
During the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, PM Modi said that the BJP continues to be the most favoured party, as it was voted back to power in 56% of cases across states. A senior party MP reported that Modi mentioned that in 39 elections where the BJP held power, it was reelected 22 times. In contrast, the Congress, out of 40 such elections, managed to secure reelection only 7 times (18%).
In the case of regional parties, out of 36 such elections, they were reelected 18 times, or in 50% of cases. The Parliamentarian, quoting Modi, said that regional parties performed better than the Congress, but were "not as good as the BJP".
Modi received an enthusiastic welcome at the meeting, where he encouraged party colleagues to enhance teamwork in preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Party MPs who were part of the meeting said that the PM asked them to not refer to him with honorifics such as “ji” or “adarniya” or “shri”. A first-time MP told DH that Modi said that he would like to be known as just ‘Modi’ by the ‘BJP parivaar’.
Modi also took the opportunity to request MPs to focus on two pivotal initiatives of the party – the Viksit Bharat campaign, encouraging people to contribute towards making India developed by 2047, and the Vishwakarma scheme aimed at empowering artisans across 18 trades. Modi urged the MPs to actively engage in programmes related to the Viksit Bharat scheme in their constituencies and promote the participation of artisans in their respective constituencies in the Vishwakarma scheme.