BJP will have strength in Punjab: Arun Singh
Party’s national general secretary Arun Singh says that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in four states and improve its performance in Punjab.
Elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab in February-March next year.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Singh said that the BJP will be a force in Punjab after next year’s assembly elections and the party government in the states is working round the clock to improve the lives of the people.
Also a Rajya Sabha member and party in-charge of Rajasthan and Karnataka, Singh said that all is well in both the states and he has started preparations for the next assembly elections.
“There is no resentment in Rajasthan BJP over differences,” he said.
Interview excerpts:
Question: What are the prospects of the BJP in the next year’s assembly elections in five states?
Lion: BJP is doing very well in all the five states. Our workers are working hard among the people and we are confident of winning the next year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab. Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Prayas’, the BJP government in the states is working round the clock to improve the lives of the people.
BJP will form government in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand with huge majority for the second time in a row. The present situation in Punjab will improve the performance of the party. After the assembly elections to be held next year, BJP will become a force in Punjab.
After breaking ties with the oldest ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the BJP will contest alone in Punjab for the first time. The situation in Punjab has changed a lot since the last assembly elections and seeing the work at the ground level, I am sure of a very good result.
Question: It is learned that the BJP in Rajasthan has decided to break the existing pattern of changing the government in the state every five years. Would you please explain about it?
Lion: For decades people have been seeing a new government every five years. The state unit has decided to work out a strategy to change the pattern of the new government every five years. There are many states where BJP is in power for many years. We were in power in Gujarat for almost three decades, in Madhya Pradesh for almost two decades and ruled Chhattisgarh for 15 consecutive years.
It has been decided to work in such a way that this pattern of new government will have to be changed every five years in many states.
In 2017, Goa gave a second term to the BJP for the first time, changing governments every five years. In 2019, Haryana elected a BJP government for the second term. This year our government in Assam has got another term.
Early next year, Uttar Pradesh will elect a BJP government for another five years. Later Himachal Pradesh will do the same.
The continuity of BJP government in many states proves that people are with development oriented governance.
Q: There is a lot of difference in the Rajasthan unit, where former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her supporters are not on the same page with the state leadership. is it true?
Lion: There is no room for differences in Rajasthan BJP. Everyone is painting a wrong picture when everyone is working together with the sole objective of overthrowing the Congress government in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Rajasthan BJP is the oldest unit and those who are saying differences must understand that like the organisation, the cadre is a mix of old and new. There everyone is working together.
Raje is a senior leader and is currently the National Vice President of the party and has no differences with the state leadership.
Question: There was a lot of controversy over the removal of Raje’s picture from the BJP hoardings and posters. Is it true that the events have widened the gap between him and the state leadership?
Lion: Let me tell everyone, we have a basic guideline for using photos in the background of meeting and conference halls and inside the party headquarters. It is followed by all the state units and Rajasthan also follows it. Some people with vested interests spread false information without knowing the facts and made a false statement that all is not well in Rajasthan BJP, which is not true.
Similarly, these guidelines are not followed for putting up hoardings outside or in the city.
Question: Earlier this week, Rajasthan BJP organized a two-day ‘Chintan Meet’. What was the agenda of the meeting?
Lion: I cannot share the details of the discussions or decisions taken in the meeting. In the meeting we discussed in detail our plans for the next 2023 assembly elections.
Question: Will BJP announce the chief ministerial face in Rajasthan?
Lion: The BJP parliamentary board and the central leadership will decide whether the party announces the chief ministerial face or not. In many state elections we won without declaring the name of the chief minister. We won Haryana in 2014 and Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in 2017.
Question: Why is the BJP criticizing the Ashok Gehlot government so much in recent times?
Lion: There is a strong anti-incumbency against the Gehlot government. People are suffering to lead a simple and peaceful life. Law and order has completely collapsed. The Kovid-19 management exposed the health infrastructure of the Gehlot government’s preparedness.
They were not able to access the medicines and ventilators sent by the Centre. They threw the vaccines in the dustbin, and sent Remdesivir injections to Punjab. They could not even set up an oxygen plant, for which funds were provided under PM-CARES.
Chief Minister Gehlot’s government failed to serve and take care of its people.
Question: So what are the BJP’s plans for the 2023 assembly elections in Rajasthan?
Lion: We will strengthen our organization across the state and inform people about the failure of the Congress government. BJP workers will launch a massive ‘andolan’ (movement) across the state against the Congress government.
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