Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Saturday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘pro-poor policies’ with the unprecedented mandate the party has received in state polls, including in Uttar Pradesh, and said it has catapulted him as the ‘tallest leader’ since independence.
He told a packed press conference, soon after the poll results showed a landslide win for the BJP in UP where it was out of power for 15 years, that the outcome will change the course of country’s politics and will mark the end of the politics of caste, nepotism and appeasement.
Expressing confidence that the BJP will form government in Goa and Manipur, where no party has got a clear majority, Shah said the party’s Parliamentary Board will meet on Sunday where the names of chief ministerial nominees will be finalised.
“The only factor for the win is the performance of the Modi government. The outcome has shown the faith the poor have reposed in Modi.... Even his political rivals will have to admit that he has emerged as the tallest leader in the country since independence,” he said.
He described the victory in UP and Uttarakhand as the biggest since independence and claimed that it will herald the ‘politics of performance’.
Despite defeat in Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has got over 30 per cent votes, he said.
He also made light of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's allegations that the electronic voting machines were tampered with in UP, saying he can understand her state of mind.
IMAGE: Giant cut-outs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah installed at the party headquarters after the party's victory in assembly elections, in New Delhi on Saturday. Photograph: Atul Yadav/ PTI Photo
