Raina confident of repeating 2014

Vikram Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 22

With just a day left for the final outcome, BJP state president Ravinder Raina has exuded confidence of repeating the 2014 Lok Sabha poll performance by winning at least three of the total six parliamentary seats in the state.

As all eyes are now on the counting of votes, Raina said the BJP would win the Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats, while it would also increase its vote share in the Kashmir valley.

Talking to The Tribune, Raina said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity graph had risen much higher than the 2014 wave, which would also raise the vote share of the BJP in the state. “The party has given a tough fight to regional parties such as the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party.”

“We will be winning by a huge margin of 4 lakh votes in the Jammu-Poonch constituency, while the Udhampur-Doda seat will also be wrested by a good margin of 1 lakh and above,” Raina added.

The BJP state chief also exuded confidence in taking away the Ladakh seat by a margin of 5,000 votes.

“The BJP is all set to make inroads into the Valley constituencies, which will add to the party’s vote percentage,” he said.

Raina contributed the party’s success in the state to the PM’s development plans, foreign policies and tightening reins on terrorism.

He said though the candidates contesting on both Jammu province seats as well as in Ladakh had their own respective stature in party and strong connect with people, Modi’s national and developmental policies for the state would be major contributors to their success.

Raina said the PM’s policy on terrorism and choking the anti-national voices in the state had given a big jolt to inimical forces and relief to the nationalist people of the state. For Congress, Raina said, the party will be witnessing the worst-ever defeat this time and said it was all set to be wiped out from national politics.

“Earlier, the Congress charged the Election Commission with favouring the BJP and now they are finding faults with the EVMS. Why those faults were not found by them in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan,” Raina added.

Talking about Rahul Gandhi’s recent tweet against the Election Commission, Raina termed it as ‘bahana brigade’, saying that the party had already conceded its defeat.