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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 7 told BJP MPs that the party had become the most preferred among people for its governance record, citing data to demonstrate the wide gap between its State governments being voted back to power in Assembly polls in comparison to Congress governments.
Addressing a meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary party, the first for this session — and the first after results were declared for Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana — the Prime Minister credited the “team spirit” within the party organisation for the BJP’s win in the three Hindi-speaking States.
Assembly poll record
Quoting Mr. Modi, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said that out of the 40 times that the Congress had faced Assembly polls after one term in power in those States, it could win only seven times, making a dismal success rate of 18%. The corresponding figures for the BJP were 22 wins out of 39 such polls, a success rate of 56%.
Regional parties have fared better than the Congress but not better than the BJP, as they won 18 out of 36 times when in power, notching up a success rate of 50%. This showed that the BJP was the most preferred party for running the government, Mr. Joshi quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
‘No honorifics needed’
Mr. Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting, in recognition of the BJP’s win in the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. While acknowledging the felicitation, he insisted that he should not be referred to with honorifics like ‘Ji’ or ‘Shree’ or ‘Aadarniya (respected)‘.
“I’m a small karyakarta (worker). People think that I am part of their family. Do not add adjectives before and after my name like ‘Shree’, ‘Adarniya’, and ‘Ji’. People think of me as ‘Modi’,” he is reported to have said during the meeting.
The BJP parliamentary party, which includes all its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, customarily meets every week when Parliament is in session, usually on Tuesdays.
