Having formed governments in 19 states, the Bharatiya Janata Party is at the pinnacle of political success with no competition in sight. That’s the word from senior BJP leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal as the party wrapped up election victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh today.
“I frankly think there is no number one political opponent,” the railway minister in the Narendra Modi-led administration said.
The Congress party has improved its tally from 57 seats in the 2012 Gujarat elections to 77 seats this time. But Piyush Goyal does not see this as a resurgence of the primary opposition party.
They are down to one third of the seats. Election after election the Congress is exposing itself to defeat. With the anti-incumbency in Meghalaya, Karnataka, Mizoram, I don’t know whether they will be able to retain even a single one of those three states. Piyush Goyal, Senior BJP Leader & Union Railway Minister
While the BJP has held on to its vote share from 2012 and even showed a marginal improvement, the Congress managed to make headway among rural voters in Gujarat. “They have certainly got more seats there (in rural areas) and one must recognise that,” said Goyal, but added that the “primary issue of rural distress” have been seen across the country.
Farmers across the country went through almost three years of drought. Even in the current year, we saw some parts of India getting very good rainfall and other parts of India getting very little rainfall. So while the national mean was good, different states saw different monsoons. Piyush Goyal, Senior BJP Leader & Union Railway Minister.
Bloomberg Quint
