BJP should be a force in every state: Amit Shah

"Let there be no state or union territory where the BJP is not a force to reckon with," Shah said.

The BJP national council meeting, first such gathering since the party stormed to power in 2014 Lok Sabha election, was held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The session started with Shah’s ratification as the new party president.

Addressing the party colleagues, Shah said: “People’s aspirations are in sync with the BJP…But our activists should not ever think that the Congress has been whitewashed from across the nation. There are still many areas where we need to strengthen our organisation. We cannot stay in power for a long time otherwise.”

He said the party should work to establish a BJP or a BJP-led government from J & K to Kerala and from Gujarat to Nagaland.

"Therefore, our foremost commitment should be to return BJP to power in the election-bound states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand," he said.

"Besides, there are eight more states where we need to re-capture power. We must form our governments whenever elections are held in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Arunanchal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

"Also, we will have to make special efforts to win elections and form our governments in states like Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamilnadu where we have polled significant percentage of votes. To realize this objective, we should make BJP’s effective presence felt in each and every village Panchayat, Zilla Parishad, municipal Corporations and other elected bodies," said Shah.

"This may not be possible only by slogans mongering and putting up hoardings. This may require our total commitment and dedication to the party organisation and to its objectives and by maintaining mutual trust among fellow party workers.

"This is exactly what we did in Uttar Pradesh. Our exceptional success in UP was due to our right approach in social engineering,  introducing accountability and transparency in organisational management, widening the scope of direct contact with the cross-section of society and winning the confidence of the electorate by consolidating organisational unity. These were the key elements behind our sensational victory in the Lok Sabha polls in UP and we must focus on them in our march ahead to reach out every nook and  corner of the country," he said.

The newly-appointed BJP president praised the role of Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the duo had successfully fulfilled the drams of lakhs of people across the county.

“I would congratulate the Team Modi for its achievement,” he said.

Urging people to keep faith in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, he said, “We have strong determination to take the right path for the development of the nation. We have the honesty and intention to work hard.”

He said Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, during the Lok Sabha election campaign, had given a clarion call of Congress Mukt Bharat and "what he meant was freeing India from corruption and bad governance."

"But a Congress-free India can become a reality only if we ensure the BJP’s victory in every part of the country. I call upon party functionaries at every level to rededicate themselves to this ambitious task with full vigour and commitment," he said.

The BJP national council adopted some resolutions in the meeting focusing on various political and economic issues. It included various decisions taken by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

Over 2,000 party leaders from across the county participated in the meeting.