Admitting reverses in recent three States Assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday said the party was “not defeated” as it did not lose ground in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. For his part, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley asked the party workers to build the narrative of the Lok Sabha polls campaign around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “matchless” leadership and his Government’s performance as this will ensure the saffron party’s victory in the election.

“Three election results were not good, our Opposition won but we were not defeated,” Shah said and sought to define defeat in terms of Congress getting wiped out from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal.

“Humne apni zameen nahin khoyi,” Shah said addressing the National Council on Saturday. Stating that the upcoming Parliamentary polls “very important” for the party, he asked all party workers to ensure that the votes of their families and friends are cast by 10.30 am on the polling day.

Speaking just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to mike on the concluding day of the two-day meet, BJP president for the second day attacked Congress, saying the “cancer” of casteism, nepotism and appeasement policy was its contribution, which, he said “weakened the democracy and halted development”.

“In the elections in the three States (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh) our opponents won but we were not defeated. The results were not good but we have not lost our ground. The workers need not lose their hope,” he said at Ramlila Ground here.

“Lok Sabha elections are very important for us. If we manage a massive victory, the BJP will rule the country from Panchayat to Parliament for a long time,” he said. He asked his party workers to ensure that every voter is contacted in an intensive campaign for the elections. Shah asked them to go back to their respective states with a pledge to ensure BJP's thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections and make Narendra Modi Prime Minister for a second term.

The Finance Minister told the party workers that the next five months would be all about the general election, so whenever they spoke or delivered a speech, they should always keep the polls and the party’s victory in mind. Suggesting that Modi’s leadership was the BJP’s biggest strength in the upcoming polls, Jaitley said the party workers should build the campaign narrative around it as the Opposition would try to divert the attention from it.

“Whether it is the prince of the Congress, Didi from Bengal, Babu from Andhra or Behenji of Uttar Pradesh, they all want to be the Prime Minister and their swords will come out after the results of the election,” he said.