We hope to win 25 out of 25 seats : Prakash Javadekar

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Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar is also election In-charge of Rajasthan for Lok Sabha elections 2019 and he has been camping in the state overseeing the elections for last many months. As the polling completes in Rajasthan, Kamal Sandesh Associate Editor Vikash Anand discussed with him at length about the campaign strategy and prospects of BJP in the state. Here are the excerpts:

You were election in-charge of Rajasthan BJP in the recently held assembly elections and at present you are also in-charge of the party in the on-going Lok Sabha elections in the state. What difference you see in both these elections ?

I have always experienced that people take every election differently. In the recently held legislative elections in Rajasthan BJP’s loss was not big, we were away from victory by just half percent of vote share and on every booth, BJP got only three votes less than Congress. However, truth is that Congress came in power. Here, BJP government had done good work. But due to lack of communication with people about it’s works, we lost the assembly elections.

In on-going Lok Sabha elections people are clear in their opinion that this election is of Modi, and they will vote for Modi as he is the symbol of nation’s security, progress and strong leadership. Earlier, in Assembly elections it was thought that the BJP would get 30-40 seats but, BJP did well. In Lok Sabha elections we got Hanuman Beniwal, Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and many others join our side and have increased our strength by uniting the social forces. Had it been done in assembly elections, the results would have been certainly different.

Present Congress government in the state is not up to the expectations of people. How its performance going to impact Lok Sabha elections ?

There is resentment among people against Congress government for not keeping its promises. That is why People have named this state government as ‘promise-breaker’ government. The Congress government had promised total farm loans waiver. Later on, it said that government would waive loan upto two lakhs. They did not keep this promise too. They are imposing one condition after another in waiving farm loans. As a result, farmers’ anger is bursting out. Like farm loan waiver promise, the Congress government had promised to give 3500 stipend to unemployed youth, but did not delivered it even for a single unemployed youth. Even free treatment under Bhama Shah Yojana that was started by previous BJP government was also stopped by the present dispensation. This Congress government did not execute Ayushman Bharat Scheme too. Even they didn’t allow the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to be implemented in Rajasthan, under which the central government is providing Rs. 6000 for the farmers. These all things have led the people against the Congress government in the state and the peoples’ anger will definitely reflect in voting.

PM Narendra Modi’s public meetings witness unprecedented peoples’ participation. What is the reason behind this?

Popularity of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is so high that if you talk to ten people, eight want to vote for Modiji. In 2014 people have given the mandate to Shri Narendra Modi with a hope, now they are voting with confidence.

In these five years, people saw that our Prime Minister did 24 X 7 hard work. The PM has no self interest; his every move has been dedicated to the country. While interacting, once one tribal brother told me, “Earlier, when our soldiers used to fell in the hands of enemy country, his headless body used to arrive home. But this is the first Prime Minister under whom when our soldiers who landed in enemy country had to be freed within 24 hours”. I believe, this faith on Modiji is the main reason behind the massive gathering.

What was the election campaign strategy of the party in the state this time?

We have made a strategy to touch every house of the voters in the state and communicate with the people directly. Our Party Karyakartas have taken the message of the Prime Minister to the people via social media and all other means of communication available.

How many seats you are expecting from Rajasthan ?

We hope to win 25 out of 25 seats. Even Congress considers that we will win here 20 -21 seats. Even though we lost assembly elections in the state with just half percent of vote, we are definitely wining Lok Sabha with the lead of 8 to 10 percentage of votes.