Hours after BJP won a hard-fought victory in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the Patel community, unhappy with the saffron party over the non-fulfillment of its quota demand, and said bygones should be bygones and no effort should be spared to unite all Gujaratis.
Addressing party workers at the BJP office here, Modi said the Gujarat assembly win was unprecedented as the party had maintained a winning streak since 1989. “Usually, a government returning to office is something that is hailed,” he said.
While reaching out to the quota-seeking Patels, Modi lauded state party leaders for taking over the reins successfully after his departure to become the PM. In a speech that was intended to counter the perception that BJP’s success was diminished by a sub-par tally, Modi said, “Let us forget who did what… and what happened. Let there be no divisions among Gujaratis.”
Modi reiterated that development would continue to be his key poll plank for which he also hinted at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s quote “Vikas gando thayo the” as he said, “You can criticise the BJP but how can one mock at the agenda of development?”
To counter more emphatically the Congress bid to run down the BJP agenda of development, Modi at the end of his speech mooted a new slogan “jitega bhai jitega, vikas hi jitega” and asked party workers to repeat, hinting that the development agenda will continue to dominate the political discourse in the coming days.
Modi said several forces forged an alliance and conspired to destabilize him with the sole agenda to defeat BJP in Gujarat. “Ek baar Gujarat mein gira do (defeat him in Gujarat) was their sole agenda but these forces were perturbed since the exit polls showed BJP was winning again,” he said.
He attacked quota leader Hardik Patel indirectly, saying, “A few power hungry sections tried to reimpose the venom of caste politics in the state, which has been rejected by the people.”
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