Addressing party workers at BJP parliamentary meet, PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that win over Left in Tripura is a "victory of ideology" and the party needs to work hard to maintain its winning electoral streak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said.
"Tripura was considered a bastion of Marxism for the last 25 years. This is an ideological victory," party leaders quoted Modi as saying.
The prime minister's statement comes days after the CPI(M)-led Left Front was dethroned by the BJP-IPFT coalition after nearly 25 years in power. The alliance scripted history by winning the Tripura Assembly elections with a two-third majority, ending uninterrupted rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the northeastern state.
The prime minister, who was greeted with the slogan 'Jeet hamari jari hai, ab Karnataka ki bari hai' (Our winning run continues, now is the turn of Karnataka), spoke about the BJP's impressive performance in the the three northeast states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
According to party leaders at the meeting, Modi referred to comments from some critics that Tripura was a small state with only two Lok Sabha seats and underlined the significance of the BJP's win. He said the state had long been yearning for change and people embraced it by ousting the Left which was in power for over 25 years.
Meanwhile, speaking on the recent violence in Tripura, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that nine of the party workers were killed due to Marxists.
With the Karnataka Assembly polls round the corner, Modi told the gathering that the party will need to work hard to maintain its winning streak and asserted that there was an atmosphere of hope and expectation in the country, Kumar said.
The prime minister asserted that the party should endeavour to live up to people's expectations as it rejoices in its electoral win and asked MPs to take to the masses details of the Union Budget that was aimed at building a new India.
WATCH FULL VIDEO: BJP parliamentary party meeting underway in Delhi
