New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said Prime MInister Narendra Modi during the parliamentary meeting cited the poll data to assert that the BJP has become people's most preferred party for governance as its record of winning state elections while in power is much better than the Congress.
Speaking to the media after the BJP's Parliamentary Party meeting here, Joshi said, "One interesting fact PM Modi has kept in front of us. In this country, 40 times, when the Congress was in power in states and asked for mandate it remained successful for seven times only. Whereas BJP asked for mandate for 39 times while being in power and it got success 22 times."
He said that the regional parties asked for mandate while being in government for 36 times, and they got success to form government 18 times.
"This is since the independence,"Joshi said, adding that the Prime Minister asserted that the BJP is now the people's most preferred party for running the government and administration.
Joshi also said the Prime Minister gave a call that only four castes exist -- women, youth, farmers and the poor, -- and we have to work for their overall development and ensure justice for them. He has also called for everyone for their involvement in Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra.
The minister said the Prime Minister also cited the team spirit for the increase in the vote share of the BJP in the states of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Joshi said, "In the meeting, Modi said that the BJP has increased its strength by multiple times in Mizoram and Telangana along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh."
Earlier, PM Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in the Assembly polls.
Party MPs raised slogans lauding his leadership as senior leaders, including BJP president J.P. Nadda, felicitated PM Modi at the first meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party in Parliament's Winter Session.
During the meeting the Prime Minister credited the victory in three states to each and every party workers and also urged the party leaders not to use words like Modiji and call him only Modi. The Prime Minister asserted that "don't distance me from the public by making me 'Modi ji'. "I am Modi".
The BJP scored a thumping win over the Congress in the Assembly polls to three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
The BJP has credited Modi's leadership as the primary reason for its big win. The Congress wrested power from the BRS in Telangana for the first time since the inception of the state in 2014.