Home Minister and BJP’s master election strategist Amit Shah, in an exclusive interview to India TV, has predicted a thumping majority for his party in Lok Sabha elections. He has also predicted that BJP would form government in Odisha and a coalition government with Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh this time. Shah predicted a clean sweep for BJP in 16 states and Union Territories. Shah was speaking to India TV Political Editor Devendra Parashar on Wednesday, during his eastern UP poll campaign. He was asked about his state-wise assessment about his party’s prospects. He said, BJP will break past records in UP and “will definitely win more than 70 seats” out of a total of 80.
He attributed two factors behind this. One, he said, largest number of BPL beneficiaries of welfare schemes like free foodgrains, drinking water, toilets, electricity, house and Ayushman mediclaim scheme come from UP and Bihar, and they will surely support BJP. Two, Yogi Adityanath’s government has ended decades of “goonda raj” by local mafia gangs and the common man is living a peaceful life. For West Bengal, Amit Shah predicted that BJP would win 24 to 30 out of a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats, while in Odisha, BJP would win 15 to 17 out of a total of 21 seats. In Telangana, he claimed, BJP could win more than 10 LS seats, while in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, BJP would open its account. Amit Shah candidly admitted that BJP might “lose one or two seats” in Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra, because “it had reached a saturation point last time”. Shah said, BJP would keep its number of seats intact in Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, while in Karnataka, the ruling Congress is already facing anti-incumbency.
“Overall”, Shah said, “our tally of Lok Sabha seats is going to increase, because a ‘Modi wave’ is sweeping large parts of the country. The June 4 results will surprise everybody.” Amit Shah has this quality of speaking out candidly during interviews on almost all subjects. His second quality is, he continues to assess and re-assess his party’s prospects in each state. Thirdly, he makes predictions only after accessing four or five different reports. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had been making predictions recently about INDIA bloc going to form a government at the Centre. Amit Shah’s candid predictions may cause worries for these leaders.
Shah pointed out that losses of some seats in the North and West, will be more than compensated by gains to be made from the East and South. Shah’s assessment is: BJP will win more seats in Bengal, Odisha and Telangana to compensate loss of a few seats in Haryana and Rajasthan. This will ensure that BJP will get a thumping majority for a third term at the Centre. I hope, opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi who were predicting BJP’s defeat, will get their answers from Amit Shah’s projections.
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