New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed with a standing ovation at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting on Thursday following the party’s landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.
The Prime Minister praised the BJP for the victory in the three assembly polls as the outcome of “teamwork” and urged party members to continue the effort to face future challenges, including the upcoming Lok Sabha elections early next year, sources said.
He was felicitated by BJP national president J P Nadda on his arrival. During his address at the first BJP Parliamentary party meeting after the victory, PM Modi said that the results showed that the BJP is the public's preferred choice for governance.
He also cited data to show that the BJP's record of winning assembly elections while in power was much better than the Congress.
PM Modi noted that the BJP went into polls 39 times while in power and retained power 22 times, which is a success rate of 56 per cent.
Quoting the Prime Minister, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters that the Congress faced re-election 40 times and won only seven times, a success rate of 18 per cent, reports India Today.
Regional parties have fared better than the Congress but not the BJP as they won 18 of 36 times when in power, showing a success rate of 50 per cent, PM Modi further noted at the meeting.
The Prime Minister also asked the MPs to participate actively in the ongoing Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, a program to reach out to beneficiaries of the government schemes that began on November 15 and will conclude on January 25, the Janman programme for the particularly vulnerable tribal groups and extremely backward as well as the Vishwakarma program.
Sources said Modi advised the MPs not to address as Modiji or aadaraniya Modiji as people know him as “Modi” and adding adjectives would distance him from people.
“I am a small karyakarta of the party and people think that I am part of their family. Don’t add adjectives like Shree or adaraniyaji as people think of them as one of them and as Modi” he is learnt to have said.
The BJP secured a massive victory in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in the recent state elections, while the Congress settled with Telangana, where Revanth Reddy took oath as the Chief Minister today.