Shah: Victories in state polls to lay foundation for BJP's win in 2019

New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah Monday said the ongoing Assembly elections were not ordinary polls, but "very important" for the country, as his party's win would lay a strong foundation for the Narendra Modi government's return to power in 2019 and making it "invincible" for a long time. In a video-address to party workers in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Shah said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have a long and uninterrupted rule from panchayat to Parliament like the Congress had for over 30 years to realise its goal of making India great and a "vishwaguru" (world leader).

The Modi government had done a lot but five years were not enough to pull the country out of the "mess" left behind by the decades-long Congress rule and make it an economic and military superpower, he added.

Assembly polls are being held in five states and the stakes are especially high for the BJP in three of those -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan -- where it is in power.

The saffron party is in power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh since 2003 and its rivals believe that any serious slide in its performance in the three states would energise the opposition ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Telangana and Mizoram are the two other poll-bound states.

Shah asked the party workers in Madhya Pradesh to work not merely for a win but for such a massive victory that it would send a chill down the spines of the BJP's rivals on the day of counting of votes.