New Delhi: The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) would be looking at the East as a fertile catchment area in the next Lok Sabha polls to make up for the short-fall in states where it has already peaked.
"We can gain in Odisha, West Bengal, those states from where we did not win many seats," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told News18 Network on being asked to comment on BJP's plans for the upcoming elections, especially in states the party registered very high strike rate in the last Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP won more than 250 of the 300 Lok Sabha seats up for grabs in north, west and central India with a strike rake of almost 90% to form the first single-party majority government in India since 1984.
However, there have been concerns in the BJP after the recent Rajasthan by-polls and Gujarat Assembly elections regarding the party’s prospects in states where local anti-incumbency may impinge on the General Elections 2019.
So West Bengal and Odisha which together send 63 MPs to the Lok Sabha are being seen as virgin territory where the party is making renewed attempt to increase political and electoral footprint to mop up numbers in 2019.
In both the states, the BJP has emerged as the main opposition to the ruling dispensation. Both states are governed by regional parties where the BJP is not facing political constrains due to the presence of a dominant NDA ally as in the case of Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP also sees a scope to improve its tally in the north-eastern states which together elect 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
"In the north-east our party is gaining momentum. Modiji has presented a corruption-free government and the kind of governance our party has given, I am sure we will win the next LS elections of the basis of our performance," Jaitley told News18 Network.
The BJP and its allies now have 14 MPs from the region. Party preparations in seven NE states are being led by Assam Minister for Education and Health Himanta Biswa Sarma.
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