JOIN USBJP president Amit Shah on Friday conceded that the coming together of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh will pose a challenge for his party but felt that the alliance would not work in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Shah held that the BSP-SP alliance was not an easy alliance and that the BJP would not treat it lightly.
"If the BSP and SP contest in the alliance, it would be a challenge to us. But it won't (be that way) everywhere.
"We are sure that we will win either one seat: Amethi or Rae Bareli," he told editors during an interaction on the completion of four years of the Modi government.
The BJP's bet is that the BSP and the SP will have a hard time reaching a consensus in contesting the total number of seats, which would leave very little for the Congress.
As for the turbulent ties between the BJP and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the BJP chief said it did not want to give up on an old ally like the Shiv Sena.
"In 2019, the BJP will fight with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. We don't want to oust them from the NDA. But if they go out, it's their will. We are ready for every situation," he said.
Shah said the BJP's ground strength was evident from the fact that the Opposition parties were uniting because they concede that they would not be able to defeat the NDA in 2019 on their own.
"They all fought against us in 2014, too, but failed to stop us. They all have their presence in their respective states. Even if they come together they won't be able to defeat us," he said.
Shah said the BJP wanted to concentrate on the Lok Sabha seats hitherto not won by it.
"We will win such seats which were not with us in the northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and many other places," he said.
Stating the next battle would be in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the BJP chief said he was confident of the party's success in all the three states notwithstanding the buoyant mood in the Congress.
He said the new BJP president in Rajasthan would be declared after May 26.