We will win big in Gujarat, says BJP

No word on possible change of leadership in Gujarat; hopes GST bill will be passed during monsoon session

Amit Shah, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said today that the BJP will get a two thirds majority in Gujarat, no matter who the Chief Minister of the state was. Gujarat is slated to go for assembly elections in 2017.

Amid chatter that incumbent Anandiben Patel could be replaced because of the BJP's unpopularity on account of the way the state government had handled the issue of reservation as demanded by the agitationists led by Hardik Patel, Shah made no comment on a possible change of leadership but asserted that the BJP would win two thirds majority, not just a majority.

"Read my body language and hear what I am saying. BJP will get two thirds majority. I could have said we will form the government. I am going beyond that," he told reporters at a function to celebrate two years of the BJP-led government at the centre.

Shah was less confident about the Akali Dal-BJP coalition's chances in Punjab saying: "I have not been there yet so I am not sure how we will fare there". 

About the recent tensions between the PDP-BJP alliance inJammu and Kashmir, he said all coalitions faced some difficulties but these were not insurmountable. He also said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill will be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session. 

"The Congress is the soleexception that is preventing the bill. You should ask them what they aregaining from their stance of preventing Parliament from functioning" he said,adding the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)'s victory in TamilNadu was an important development and that party was committed to India'sprogress.

Shah said the party had not yet decided if it would projecta face as the party's chief ministerial candidate in UP. The functioning of theUP unit of the BJP is being toned up for the forthcoming assembly election andthe campaign will be flagged off with a rally in Saharanpur that will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow.

As part of its secondanniversary, the BJP will hold meetings and rallies in around 200 places acrossIndia from May 26 to June 10. It has prepared copious propaganda material ofits achievements, including how Mudra Bank loans have been disbursed to 32.5 millionpeople across the country, a third of whom are women.

Of the other ministers, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Patna, Dehradun, Puneand also Pathankot in Punjab. The Punjab city had suffered a terror attack in January. All ministers will criss cross, the country to address rallies in constituencies that are not their own.