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A Rajya Sabha member, who is an associate member of the BJP, Tuesday said the Assembly poll results are a ‘warning bell’ for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Sanjay Kakade, a Pune-based builder, also asked the party to introspect over the poll performance.
“I am of the opinion that the BJP should stick to development agenda and not to caste (mobilisation), changing names of cities or a (Ram) temple. We need to revert to the track of development,” Kakade said. “What the BJP has been doing so far is Mandir-Masjid, changing names of cities, caste politics. Even if we win MP with a slender margin, I will call it our defeat,” Kakade said.
Kakade said he was not surprised with Congress gaining decisive leads in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and TRS’s winning performance in Telangana, but Madhya Pradesh was a shocker.
“The decisive trends in these four major states are a warning bell for us ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. If we do not learn from it, it will be difficult for us,” Kakade said.
“I have personally surveyed these four states. I am not surprised with the losses in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The shocking result is of Madhya Pradesh. It looks like we have deviated from the development promises made ahead of 2014 general elections,” he said.
Kakade, 51, also asked BJP to introspect after the setback in the Assembly elections.
“Despite having (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, (BJP chief) Amit Shah (as star campaigners) and a strong network of RSS in Madhya Pradesh, if the performance is negative it means some introspection is required,” said the Rajya Sabha member.
“There are 65 MPs from these states, of which 62 are of BJP and three are of Congress. We need to take it (results) seriously,” he said.
Kakade is no stranger to controversial comments. Ahead of the results of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, he had said: “Forget absolute majority, the party (BJP) will not even get enough number of seats to form the government. The Congress, on the other hand, will reach close to the majority mark.”
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