Pradhan unconcerned about Opposition for 2019 elections

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday expressed confidence about winning the 2019 general elections while remaining unperturbed with the Opposition.

Speaking to ANI, Pradhan said that BJP's defeat in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh and Bihar bypolls will not affect the party in the general elections.

Remaining unruffled following results in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar bypolls, where Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidates registered victories over their BJP rivals, the Union Minister claimed that the situation all over the country cannot be gauged by results in just a couple of elections.

"Why do you forget that we just formed NDA governments in Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, be it in far, remote areas or in the mainland the presence BJP and NDA is strong everywhere. In 2019 as well the government will be formed under Narendra Modi's leadership, and we will also form a government in Odisha," he added.

Commenting on the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "The people who have, for a long time, led the country astray, deprived it from progress, have played family politics and have looted it, they were standing together in 2014 as well and even if they do so again in 2019, we have no worries."

Pradhan was earlier today welcomed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here with a grand reception as thousands of party supporters held a massive procession to escort him to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) state headquarters.

Pradhan, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ajay Pratap Singh, and Kailash Soni (BJP) and Rajmani Patel (Congress) were among the five candidates elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh today.