Change in Cong leadership good omen for BJP: Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said people have rejected divisive politics of the Congress party.

He made this statement after the result trends showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) marching ahead to form next governments in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

"People have rejected the divisive politics of Congress. The BJP's win has once again proved that the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very popular. The county has accepted the revolutionary reformist economic steps taken by him," Adityanath said.

Without naming Congress, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said those who had doubted the BJP's victory in Gujarat should now accept the glorious leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

"The win in Gujarat has many meanings, especially for the friends of Congress and the opposition who questioned the development of Gujarat. The fifth consecutive win of the BJP in Gujarat is people's mandate for Prime Minister Modi's leadership and his policies. Congress has lost its stronghold in Himachal Pradesh. The way Congress did divisive politics by forgetting development and patriotism; it has been rejected by the people," Adityanath said.

"Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have shown that the country will not accept divisive politics. Had the Congress learnt lessons from Uttar Pradesh elections then it would not have done divisive politics in Gujarat. By giving prominence to divisive politics over development, the Congress party divided the society on the lines of caste. Then its leadership played the 'Janeu' card. Earlier, people of UP had said they won't accept two youth (Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav), and now people of Gujarat have rejected the effort of making a team of four youth (Rahul Gandhi, Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, Jignesh Mevani)," the UP chief minister said.

Taking a dig on Rahul Gandhi's elevation as the Congress president, Adityanath said, "We had earlier said that the change in the Congress party leadership will be a good omen for the BJP.

Yogi Adityanath said the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is working in the direction of ensuring winning 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general elections.

"Now, the BJP's victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have become a backgrounder of 2019 general elections. Now, Congress leaders should introspect whether they want to fight 2019 elections or not. We are working in the direction of winning 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general elections, and hopefully achieve this target," the UP chief minister said.

Adityanath also said that these victories have once again proved the election management skills of BJP President Amit Shah.

"Apart from the dynamic leadership of the BJP, the credit of these victories also goes to the hard work of millions of BJP workers. On behalf of Uttar Pradesh, I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah and the BJP workers for the victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh," Adityanath said.

At the time of filing this report, the BJP was leading on 85 seats, and Congress on 62, both having won 15, in the Gujarat assembly elections for 182 seats.

In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP was leading in 40 seats, having won 3 and Congress on 19, having won 2, out of total 68 seats.