While the BJP doesn’t want to fight the state elections on the demonetisation plank, party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tells Manish Anand that the party will gain the most if the Congress makes it an issue. Excerpts:
Five states are going to polls. How different is it from the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, which BJP won on the Modi wave?
Under the leadership of Modiji, BJP set the agenda of politics by bringing the development issue on the forefront. BJP had risen above the practice of exploiting caste and religion for electoral gains. All parties in the five states are vying for credentials in developing the states. BJP is keen to take Uttar Pradesh and other states to a path of development.
You’ve been involved in the politics of poll-bound Uttarakhand. But CM Harish Rawat is a tough opponent.
Rawat and his team are mafias who have been exploiting the state’s resources. Uttarakhand is in the clutches of jungle mafia, liquor mafia, mining mafia, sand mafia. People feel cheated. Rawat is presiding over the loot.
How will BJP give an alternative?
Kedarnath in Uttarakhand is the bellwether of the state. The PM and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari are seeking to change the fate of the state through an all-weather national highway. People in the state want development, and the PM will fulfil that.
Four former CMs from BJP are in Uttarakhand. Is it advantage BJP or liability?
The speciality of BJP is discipline. Since it is a cadre-based party, former CMs are not a liability but an asset.
The Assembly elections are a semi-final ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The verdict of the state polls may influence the outcome of the 2019 general elections.
Former PM Manmohan Singh said Congress will make demonetisation an election issue. Is BJP ready for the challenge?
We don’t want to contest on the issue of demonetisation. But if Congress insists on making it an election issue, BJP will gain the most. The poor have related and responded to demonetisation.
You are the party in-charge for West Bengal where BJP is against CM Mamata Banerjee. Will BJP make a mark in the state?
BJP received a good number of votes in the recent bypolls. The people are anguished with Banerjee and her government, which has failed on all fronts. BJP is expanding in Bengal and it will win a fair share of Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Banerjee has politicised bureaucracy and under her, the state is under the grip of criminals.