The BJP on Thursday cited the party’s victory in the just-concluded Rajasthan local body elections as a concrete gesture of support by the rural voter for three central farm laws. The same laws against which farmers from Punjab and Haryana are protesting and blockading entry points to Delhi demanding the laws be repealed.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar and BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav jointly held a press conference at the party headquarters to hail the local body poll results as a reflection of the mass support and popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the reforms mooted by him

According to Javdekar, the BJP has won in 1,990 of the total 4,371 Panchayat Samitis and bagged 14 of the 21 Zila Parishad seats showing a complete reversal of the trend that the party in power in the State is likeliest to win in the local body polls. Javdekar pointed out that the trend followed Rajasthan in 2005 when the BJP, which ruled the State at the time, won 21 seats in Zila Parishad as compared to 12 by the Congress and again in 2010 when the Congress, which was in power in Rajasthan, won 24 seats in Zila Parishad .

The Minister cited the local body polls in Arunachal Pradesh too where the BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed in 96 of the total 240 Zila Parishad seats and 5,410 out of the total 8,291 Gram Panchayat seats.

“We have won from Bihar Assembly to Telangana and from Arunachal to Rajasthan. This is a popular vote and support for the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In Rajasthan 2.5 crore rural voters have voted for us in the local body polls when other parties are calling us anti-farmer. This is a clear validation of the reforms brought about by the government,” said Javdekar.