BJP Parliamentary meet: Modi, Shah to pick CMs in 3 states as suspense prevails

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers S Jaishankar, Amit Shah and Ashwani Vaishanaw are among the prominent faces attending the meeting. At the BJP meeting, PM Modi cited data from incumbent parties winning state polls to assert BJP most preferred party for governance.

New Delhi:The BJP Parliamentary meeting has begun to pick up Chief Ministers of three states where the party has won amid the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers S Jaishankar, Amit Shah and Ashwani Vaishanaw. The MPs arrived on Thursday morning in Parliament to participate in a key Parliamentary party meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The meeting, the first by BJP during the current Winter Session comes amid suspense over the selection of Chief Ministers in three states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the party registered victories in Assembly polls.

During the BJP Parliamentary party meeting today, PM Modi said it was the result of the hard work of all the party workers that the BJP achieved a massive victory in three states. The PM appreciated everyone's work. He also said that all BJP MPs and ministers have to participate in Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra from 22 December to 25 January.
Speaking at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, he credited "team spirit" for the party's big win in the recent assembly polls, noting that besides winning in three states it has also grown in strength in Telangana and Mizoram. Quoting Modi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters that the Congress faced assembly polls 40 times while in power for one term in those states and could win only seven of them, having a dismal success rate of 18 per cent.

The corresponding figures for the BJP is 22 out of 39 times, a success rate of 56 per cent, Modi noted. Regional parties have fared better than the Congress but not the BJP as they won 18 of 36 times when in power, notching up a success rate of 50 per cent. It shows the BJP is the most preferred party for running the government, he said.

Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls. Party MPs raised slogans lauding his leadership as senior leaders, including BJP president J P Nadda, felicitated Modi at the first meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party in Parliament's Winter Session.

The meeting is being held at the Balayogi Auditorium in the Parliament House complex, ahead of the commencement of Day 4 of proceedings of the House. BJP has the crucial task of selecting potential chief ministerial candidates to lead new cabinets for the upcoming five years. A BJP tsunami swept the Hindi heartland on the counting day for four states that polled for their assemblies last month with the party getting stunning mandates in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

It stumped not just their rivals but also some pollsters who had predicted tight races in these states. The election results in four states, especially the losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, came as a huge blow to the Congress's hopes for 2024 as it is now out of power across a vast swathe of the Hindi heartland.

The BJP, which had been battling close to 20 years of incumbency, won a resounding mandate bagging 163 seats while the Congress finished a distant second at 66 seats. In Rajasthan, the vote count painted a starkly different picture to what some of the pollsters had predicted, with the BJP poised to form the government, winning 115 seats, and the Congress trailing at 69 seats. Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the Congress won 35.