Predicting a hat trick for the BJP in Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the party would win all 26 Lok Sabha seats from the State for the third straight time, adding that the BJP-led NDA would win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats as there was a tremendous “pro-government wave” across the country.
He also dismissed the possibility of any negative fallout from recent Rajput protests in Gujarat, claiming that the community would support the BJP and also forgive Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, whose remarks had triggered a large-scale agitation against the ruling party in parts of the State.
Mr. Shah, who is seeking re-election from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat for a second term, will file his nomination papers on Friday. On Thursday, he held three mega roadshows in parts of his constituency, for which thousands of party workers, supporters, and citizens gathered along routes in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
‘Huge majority’
“We will win all the 26 seats with a huge majority in Gujarat. People of the State love Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. We are going to win by a huge margin,” Mr. Shah said, during an interaction with local media en route to his roadshow.
The Home Minister listed the achievements of the BJP government since 2014, outlining how the country became strong under the leadership of the Prime Minister. “For the last 10 years, we have had the majority and we used this majority to strengthen India. We have removed Article 370, triple talaq and taken other steps for the country,” he said.
Dismissing EVM concerns
He also questioned the Opposition parties’ allegations about the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), asking why they do not raise such concerns when they win State elections. “They don’t win elections as they cannot match the popularity of the Prime Minister,” he added.
Ahead of the roadshow, Mr. Shah said in a post on X: “Today I will appeal to my brothers and sisters of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Constituency to make BJP victorious and give their blessings to Modi ji so that he becomes Prime Minister once again to make the country No. 1 in every sector and to make Gandhinagar one of the most developed Lok Sabha constituencies in the country.”
Thanking Gandhinagar voters for electing him in 2019, he said that the people of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar have been supporting him for nearly three decades since he first became a legislator in 1996.
