People chose us for third term as they believe in ‘Viksit Bharat’: Nadda

Lucknow, Jul 14 (PTI) BJP president and Union minister J P Nadda on Sunday said people have supported the party-led NDA government at the Centre for the third consecutive term as they aspire for a 'Viksit Bharat'.

Nadda was addressing the Uttar Pradesh BJP working committee meeting here, which was held to review the party's poor performance in the recently held Lok Sabha polls in the state.

"People of our country have supported us for the third consecutive term because they believe in and aspire for a Viksit Bharat by 2047," Nadda said.

"In 2016, our party president had said that 'BJP is the party of Bharat's present and Bharat's future'. We must understand that the responsibilities we have are not seasonal or momentary, rather these are our perpetual responsibilities," he said.

Hitting out at the opposition, Nadda said that even after three parliamentary elections, the Congress could not cross the 100-mark.

"I want to tell you that in 13 states, the Congress has zero MPs. I also want to inform you that in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress won only two seats out of 64 seats where BJP was in a direct contest with them. It is a parasitic party where it relies on others to win," he said.

The BJP chief also said that his party has always worked for the people of the country.

"We're more of social workers and less of political workers. We have always served the interests of people.

"Before 2014, India was infamous for corruption, policy paralysis and trembling economy. I remind you of those dark times only to make you realise how far we have come," Nadda said at the state BJP meeting.

This was the first major meeting of the BJP's state unit after the Lok Sabha polls, in which the party won 33 seats, down from 62 it clinched in 2019. UP sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament.

Earlier, addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said "overconfidence" has hurt the BJP's hopes in the general elections.

He said while the BJP managed to maintain its vote share of previous elections, there was a "shifting of votes", and now the "defeated" opposition is "jumping around" again.

The chief minister said, "The percentage of votes that the BJP had in its favour in 2014 and subsequent elections, it has been successful in getting the same number of votes in 2024 as well, but the shifting of votes and overconfidence have hurt our expectations." Speaking on the occasion, UP BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said the party will win the upcoming bypolls to 10 assembly seats in the state. His remarks come a day after the BJP-led NDA's dismal performance in the by-elections in seven states.

The Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the assembly bypolls in BJP-ruled UP.

In a boost to the INDIA bloc, its members won the bypolls to 10 of the 13 assembly constituencies in seven states, while the BJP managed to bag two and an Independent pocketed one as votes were counted on Saturday.

Chaudhary urged party workers to take a pledge for ensuring the victory of BJP candidates in the forthcoming bypolls in the state. PTI