BJP is People's Preferred Choice, Says Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that the BJP has become the people’s most preferred choice for governance as its record of retaining power is better than that of other parties, including the Congress. He backed his claim by citing poll data for Assembly elections for the past many decades.

Lauding the hard work of the BJP cadre during the recently concluded Assembly elections in five states at the BJP parliamentary party meeting, the Prime Minister said that in addition to winning in three states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh -- the party has also grown in strength in Telangana and Mizoram. He said the results were not the effort of any one leader but were due to the “team spirit” of the organisation.

Speaking at the meeting, the Prime Minister also asked party leaders to use the language the masses prefer during their interactions with the general public. Sources said the Prime Minister told the BJP MPs, “I am just a karyakarta like everyone in the party... For people, I am a member of their family. Do not add adjectives like ‘shri, adarniya and ji.’ For my countrymen, I am Modi and they think of me as Modi.”

Giving an example, he said they should use “Modi ki guarantee” instead of “Modi ji ki guarantee”.

The Prime Minister also posted on his social media handle about the meeting. “Our party karyakartas are buoyed by the party’s performance in the recent Assembly elections and are looking forward to working even harder in the times to come, spreading the message of development among people of all walks of life. We will continue to fulfil people’s aspirations and empower the poorest, downtrodden and marginalised,” he posted on X.

The BJP scored a thumping win over the Congress in the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan for which the Prime Minister was felicitated during the meeting.

Quoting the Prime Minister, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told the media that the Congress faced Assembly polls 40 times while in power in those states and could win only seven of them, having a dismal success rate of 18 per cent.

According to Mr Joshi, the Prime Minister noted that the corresponding figures for the BJP are 22 out of 39 times, a success rate of 56 per cent. And that the regional parties have fared better than the Congress but not better than the BJP, as they won 18 of 36 times when in power, notching up a success rate of 50 per cent. It shows that the BJP is the most preferred party for running the government.

The parliamentary affairs minister added that the Prime Minister further pointed out that in the case of a party in power in a state for two terms facing Assembly elections, the Congress’ success rate is only 14 per cent compared to the BJP’s 59 per cent.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister reiterated that the four biggest “castes” for him are the poor, youth, women and farmers and party leaders should work for their development.

Modi asked MPs to take part in the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra”, a government exercise aimed at achieving saturation coverage of various welfare schemes.

Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party’s win in three Assembly polls.

The BJP MPs raised slogans lauding his leadership as senior leaders, including BJP president J.P. Nadda, felicitated Mr Modi at the first meeting of the BJP parliamentary party in Parliament’s Winter Session.