UP Min Dharmpal Singh says BJP will have thumping mandate in LS polls

Amid the rising differences and deepening chasms in the Opposition bloc -- INDIA -- Uttar Pradesh Minister Dharmpal Singh on Thursday backed the ruling the BJP at the Centre to leverage its continued popularity and connect with the masses and return to the hustings with a thumping mandate in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Singh, the state minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying, claimed that there wasn't much left of the Opposition alliance.

"The people can now see through the Opposition alliance and know how they work. There's not much left of the INDI alliance. This fact was reinforced in the recent state assembly elections (which saw the BJP returning resounding mandates in the heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan). People showered us with their affection and support and blessed us electorally in three states," Singh told ANI in Bareilly on Thursday.

Attributing the handsome mandates in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to the popularity and leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UP minister added, "People have accepted and endorsed the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. I can say with conviction that the BJP, under his leadership, will form the government (at the Centre) with an even bigger majority next year," said Singh, who also juggles the state Minority Affairs ministry.

The BJP's hold and electoral supremacy in the Hindi heartland is likely to drive its prospects in the general elections next year.

With its stunning mandates in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the assembly polls, the BJP stumped not just their rivals but also some pollsters who had predicted tight races in these states.

The election results in four states, especially the losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, came as a huge blow to the Congress's hopes for 2024 as it is now out of power across a vast swathe of the Hindi heartland.

The BJP, which had been battling close to 20 years of incumbency in Madhya Pradesh, won a resounding mandate bagging 163 seats while the Congress finished a distant second at 66 seats.

In Rajasthan, the vote count painted a starkly different picture to what some of the pollsters had predicted, with the BJP poised to form the government, winning 115 seats, and the Congress trailing at 69 seats. Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the Congress won 35.

However, the party's top brass is yet to announce its chief ministers for the three states.