Entire country wishes to see Modi taking oath as PM for third time: Keshav Prasad Maurya

Pune: The Bharatiya Janata Party will win more than 350 seats in next year’s Lok Sabha elections and it is people’s wish that Narendra Modi take oath as the prime minister for the third time, said Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday.

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of a press conference on ‘Nine Years of Modi’, Maurya said the government is not silent on party MP and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing sexual harassment charges levelled by female wrestlers, and that a probe is on.

“It is my wish as a soldier of BJP as well as of all the citizens of India that with more than 350 MPs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi take oath for the third time,” said Maurya.

He expressed confidence that the BJP will win 75 of the 80 seats in UP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and claimed that in Maharashtra too, the saffron party will win 45 seats (of 48) in the coming general elections.

He said the ‘tadap’ (desperation) of opposition parties for power won’t end anytime soon as till 2047, the centenary of India’s independence, there will be “lotus blooming everywhere”.

On Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s initiative to hold a meeting of opposition parties later this month to forge unity among them, Maurya said there is a panic-like situation in Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the ruling alliance. He said Kumar’s party will not even open an account in Bihar in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is the ruling partner of JD(U) in Bihar.

“He (Nitish) is dreaming about the prime minister’s position but reports say he might lose his CM’s post. He is ‘vichlit’ (disturbed) and I would suggest he performs yoga on Yoga Day. If he performs yoga, this disturbance will go away,” he said.

The UP deputy CM also claimed that BJP will form the government in Bihar when elections take place in that state.

On the allegations levelled against WFI chief Singh by female wrestlers, Maurya said that there is no silence on the part of the government.

“The probe is on and an SIT (special investigation team) has been formed. Action will be taken on the basis of the output of the investigation. The country respects not only women wrestlers but all its daughters and BJP will fight for them,” he said.

Asked about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Maurya said the BJP had three ideological stands – abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir; construction of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and implementation of UCC.

“The 22nd Law Commission has sought suggestions on UCC from the people of the country and I appeal to them to give their suggestions so that the work can be expedited,” he said.

Through UCC, the government plans to replace the personal laws, based on the scriptures and customs of various religious communities, with a common set of rules governing every citizen of the country.