Exclusive - UP poll outcome suggests two-party system can be implemented in India: Former Governor Ram Naik

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Naik, who was Minister of Oil and Natural Gas in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government between 1999-2004, said elections in UP, the largest in terms of seats, had a significant impact on the rest of the country.

Lucknow:The BJP's victory in the recent assembly polls in politically significant Uttar Pradesh which saw a near elimination of the Congress and the BSP, but a gain for the Samajwadi Party “signifies that a two-party system can be implemented in India”, Veteran BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has said.

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Naik, who was Minister of Oil and Natural Gas in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government between 1999-2004, said elections in UP, the largest in terms of seats, had a significant impact on the rest of the country. “I am very pleased that BJP won. Two-party system can be implemented in the country because the way BJP won and main opposition SP enhanced its seat share, the rest are for name only,” Naik said.

He said the outcome of the UP elections was a good omen for the functioning of the parliament while referring to the English saying 'Opposition should have a say and the government should have its way”. “I wrote congratulatory letters to both Yogi Ji and Akhilesh Ji. I wrote to Akhilesh that he had emerged as an opposition and a strong opposition at that,” he added.

The former UP Governor said the election results had also shown that the “caste politics has ended in the state”. He said that further analysis is needed in this regard. In 2014, Modi was elected at the Centre with a huge majority and the party also won in the subsequent elections. “Where has the caste equation gone? The media should pay more attention to this. The law and order situation in the Yogi Adityanath government is very good,” Naik said.

Naik added that it was him who as the UP governor suggested to Yogi Adityanath to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj. “The proposal was made and he approved it immediately,” he said.