New Delhi,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for strengthening roots for a victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and promoting young faces at every level of the organisation for building “New India” — his vision for 2022.

He was addressing the Parliamentary party meeting the first after the recent two successes that resulted in the BJP gaining the control of 19 states, apparently one more than the Congress during its heyday.

Sources say an emotional PM made the mention while sharing the journey of his party at the meeting where he received a standing ovation from the party MPs for the successes in Gujarat and Himachal. An important takeaway from the recent results has been the BJP’s complete dependence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for winning the polls. The two victories also revealed some fault lines and one of them is not-so-good show by the local leadership.

In Himachal, the defeat of chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal and state BJP chief Satpal Satti and other stalwarts show that without Modi’s overwhelming presence in the campaigning the BJP may have faced tougher time, party leaders privately admit.

Briefing about the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the PM urged party leaders not to be affected by the Opposition’s “disinformation” campaign against the BJP.

Booth-level work, which is the root of a poll campaign, was the mother of an election victory, Kumar said, quoting Modi who called for strengthening the party at grassroots across the country. Apparently, the PM turned emotional as he recalled how the party organisation grew in Gujarat and young leaders were groomed by seniors, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He fondly recalled how Vajpayee personally congratulated him when the party did well in a Lok Sabha election from Gujarat. It was the time when he was a relatively new entrant in the BJP from the RSS and not widely known within the party, he said.

Though the Congress claimed “moral victory” for scoring highest tally and pushing the BJP’s to its lowest score in the last many elections, the PM termed it a big win. “No party had done this well in elections across the country during its tenure at the Centre as the BJP had,” the PM said.

Seeking promotion of young leaders at every level in the organisation, he also referred to his association with party president Amit Shah, recalling how he groomed Shah, who is 14 years younger to him.

The Prime Minister said he wanted the younger generation to be connected with party work, social work and for building the nation, noting that the “millennial generation” would be eligible to vote from 2018.

Shah attacked the Congress over its claim of a “moral victory” in Gujarat. Terming it a “laughable exercise” for the Opposition party to see victory in defeat, he said by getting more than 49 per cent of votes the BJP received its highest share in the past many elections, including in 2012, when it had won more seats than this time.