BJP's popularity has not declined: Vijayvargiya

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other opposition leaders need not have any "misunderstanding" about the BJP's popularity after poll results in Maharashtra and Haryana, both places where the BJP was in power.

The BJP lost its majority in Haryana, though it emerged as the single largest party, while it managed to stay ahead of the pack in Maharashtra but lost a fair number of seats, going down from 122 to 105.

Polls in the two states were held on October 21 while results were declared on Thursday.

In the Jhabua bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP lost to the Congress, the latter now having 115 seats in the 230- member state Assembly against the saffron party's 108.

The results have buoyed the opposition which was trounced comprehensively in the April-May Lok Sabha polls where the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned with a bigger mandate than the 2014 edition.

Putting up a brave front, Vijayvargiya said, "The vote share of BJP has risen in Maharashtra and Haryana. If Mamata Banerjee and other opposition leaders have a misunderstanding, (about BJP's popularity), they should clear it and remember that the BJP's popularity has not declined in polls in the two states."

Vijayvargiya is the BJP's general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, where his party is in a bitter fight with Banerjee's TMC for pole position, especially after the former won 18 seats in the April-may Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We are going to form the government in Haryana as BJP rebels who won as Independent candidates are supporting us."

Taking a swipe at MP CM Kamal Nath, who has been daring BJP to topple his coalition government, Vijayvargiya said the former's "ego would not last long" like it was in the case of the mythological "Ravana".

Nath has no right to comment on recent poll results as he formed his government through manipulation, he alleged. PTI HWP LAL MAS BNM BNM