We have to conquer whole nation, says Amit Shah

Even after conquering India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, as well as the till now "untouched" North-East, the BJP — now the country's largest political party — still feels that the saffron wave is yet to reach its peak. On the first day of the party's National Executive meeting here on Saturday, BJP President Amit Shah asked party men to spend more time in the booths of states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Tripura, which have remained as unconquered for the party.

Addressing the meeting, Shah asserted that the BJP should set its sights on these territories ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "Till now we have only 13 Chief Ministers but we assume we can do it in every corner of the country," he said. The BJP leadership is upbeat on winning these territories and ushering the "actual golden ear for the party as well as for India". Shah, who is known for his amazing poll engineering acumen, also asked the BJP executives to spend at least a fortnight at the booth level.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Union Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "The party is glad that 2, 470 of its workers have expressed their interest to serve the party full time by visiting booths, 2, 441 party workers have agreed to spend six months for that work and 3,78,000 party workers will work for 15 days at the booth level."

Shah himself will be travelling for 95 days till September to Kerala and the Andaman Islands, where he will be meeting party workers at the booth level. Saturday's meet followed the BJP's stupendous victories in both UP and Uttarakhand, besides forming governments in Goa and Manipur which are achievement for the party, Prasad asserted.

Meanwhile, the holding of the National Executive meeting in Odisha has already created political speculation. Earlier, another Union Minister and prominent BJP face in Odisha, Dharmendra Pradhan, told journalists that this will leave an impact on eastern India and the Coromandel states in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Moreover, the party brass was also pleased to break the myth of defeating not only the Congress but also regional parties in the recent Assembly elections in five states. During his speech, Shah also vouched, "The win in UP has showed that people want good governance rather caste, corruption and family politics."

The party also discussed the current EVM controversy during the meeting. Making a scathing attack on the Opposition parties, Shah said, "The country has been voting through EVM machines since 1998. During this period, the BJP lost on various occasions. W was that due to EVM tampering? Where were they?" Attacking Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Prasad has called him "A hacker CM".

The minister also asserted, "The BJP is emerging as the only alternative to the TMC in Bengal and the party will surely perform well."