Thousands of BJP workers, supporters celebrate party's victory

New Delhi: As BJP registers lead in four out of five states in the assembly elections, massive celebrations are taking place at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters here in New Delhi. Senior BJP leaders and party workers gathered at the central office in the morning to rejoice the performance in four states namely Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa.

The party, since the elections has claimed numerous times that the BJP will gain an overwhelming response from voters in the four states and had somewhat accepted its defeat in Punjab. As of March 10th, BJP is leading on 249 seats out of 403 in Uttar Pradesh, one of the main states for the party to reform the government. In Uttarakhand, as of 6:35 P.M, BJP is leading with 47 seats, in Goa it has won 20 seats and in Manipur BJP has won 21 seats.

Here at the party's headquarters, a mood for massive celebration has gripped the BJP workers as well as the supporters. While some have dawned the look of Hanuman, others are wearing cut out masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Celebrating to the tunes of dhol, nagada and sringa, party workers repeatedly chanted slogans of Jai Shri Ram, Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Modi-Yogi. While many posed for pictures with the party flag, dawning party caps, one particular native of Bihar decided to dress up as Lord Hanuman and covered himself in orange paint with a picture of Modi on his chest.

Speaking exclusive to The Hans India, BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala lauded his party's performance in Uttar Pradesh saying that the party is close to achieving 275-mark in a state which has not returned a chief minister in the last 37 years and since independence no full term government has repeated itself.

"What has happened in Uttar Pradesh is that M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) factor, which was there from 2012-17, that M-Y factor continues to exist but its definition has changed. Today, M and Y don't stand for a caste or a community, they stand for a brand of Yogi and Modi. Not a single rupee of corruption allegation can be made against them. The M-Y now stands for Modi Ki Yojnayein," Poonawala said.

The senior BJP leader said that the schemes rolled out by the Modi government, for gas cylinders, housing, electricity, improved law and order, infrastructure development, among other initiatives. Prior to elections, in the month of January, former BJP MLA Swami Prasad Maurya switched parties and joined Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. He, however, lost the election by over 32,000 votes.

Poonawala, at the time, had said, "To those joining, I say Ram-Ram, and those Dua-Salam to those who are leaving (BJP). To those who will sit on the punctured cycle (S.P Political symbol), they will face a rather bad outcome.

The BJP, however, performed poorly in the state of Punjab, to which Poonawala believes that the resentment created via farm law protest did not play any role in outcome of results in any of the five states. He says that the BJP led government has launched a plethora of schemes for the farmers which has helped the party in securing seats even in assembly constituencies such as Lakhimpur.

On the surprise victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, and a rather poor show of the BJP in the state, Poonawala claimed that it is because of its NDA alliance with Shiromani Akali Dali that the BJP could not perform well.

Another senior leader of the BJP, Balraj Nune told the Hans India that a core party meeting will take place at the party headquarters to deliberate on the next plan of action post victory celebrations. On victory of AAP in Punjab, Balraj said that people of the state will get the actual picture of the AAP very soon and that hopefully BJP will form a government in Punjab in the next elections.

He also took a jab at rebel leader Swami Prasad Maurya saying that his fate wasn't good once he left BJP. He claimed that had Maurya continued to remain with the BJP, he would have become a minister. He clarified that those who had left BJP before the elections might not be welcomed back and that such decisions will be taken by senior party leaders.