NEW DELHI: At the party's 2024 national convention on Saturday, Bhartiya Janata Party President JP Nadda emphasised the dramatic rise in fortunes for the party after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Before PM Modi's rise, said Nadda, BJP was only in power in five states. After the rise of PM Modi, the BJP is now in power in 12 states, with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance holding power in 17 states.

Specifically, Nadda spoke about Uttar Pradesh, where BJP retained power for a second term in 2022 with a big win, Uttarakhand where the party broke the pattern of incumbents being voted out and the party's more recent election victories in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

He also noted that the party had stormed to power in many northeastern states, including Assam, for the first time and doubled its vote share in Telangana.

In West Bengal, the BJP has risen from 10 per cent votes and three seats to 38.5 per cent votes and 77 seats in the 2021 assembly polls, said Nadda, following up with an assertion that the party would come to power in the state during the next elections. 

“Lotus (BJP poll symbol) is everywhere. It is a pan-India party,” said Nadda, pushing back against the perception that the party has limited presence in the southern half of India.

In this regard, he noted that the BJP has 29 Lok Sabha and eight Rajya Sabha MPs from the region against the corresponding numbers of 28 and seven of the Congress. 

As he addressed nearly 11,500 party delagates at the Bharat Mandapam during the two-day convetion, he said that the Modi government would score a hat trick and retain power for a third term in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He said that the BJP needs to cross 370 seats this time and the NDA has to cross 400. He asked all the party's members and workers to expend all their efforts in reaching this target so that the party may break past its previuous records. 

With inputs from PTI.