Dadra & Nagar Haveli too goes into BJP’s bag

The Modi magic worked again as the Bhartiya Janata Party won the district panchayat and gram panchayat elections in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli on Wednesday.

BJP won eight out of eleven seats in the district panchayat polls, leaving the Congress with three seats, and assumed power in eight gram panchayats out of the eleven — with the Congress getting just two.

The victory has elevated Narendra Modi’s status as a national leader in the BJP. “There was a wave (in favour of BJP) in the Dadra and Nagar Haveli local body elections, which started from Gujarat because of Narendra Bhai,” BJP vice-president Najma Heptullah told reporters. Heptullah, who is in charge of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, gave credit to Modi and the development work he has done in Gujarat, for the victories.

Refuting allegation of the Congress of tampering with the EVMs during the elections, BJP leaders said: “Ballot papers were used in the union territory polls. The people of the territory have washed out the Congress despite the fact that the voting was done with ballot papers,”said Vijay Rupani and IK Jadeja, BJP spokespersons.

The victory is significant for Modi’s image, specifically after Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj’s statement regarding Modi and the Bihar polls. Even central BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said, “Modi is a national-level leader.”