WE DON'T PLAY APPEASEMENT POLITICS: DINESH SHARMA

After a huge mandate in Maharashtra, senior BJP leader Dr Dinesh Sharma, speaking in an interview with The Sunday Guardian, said that the main reason behind the triumph of the BJP-led Mahayuti is largely due to mobilisation at the grassroots level and active support from the RSS.

- SAURABH SHARMA

Dr. Dinesh Sharma, now a Rajya Sabha member, was a Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during CM Yogi Adityanath's first tenure.

He has been associated with the party since his youth and says, "BJP doesn't play the card of minority appeasement and that for us, both Hindus and Muslims are equal." Here are the excerpts from the interview: Q. You were in charge of Maharashtra till the Haryana elections.

You were there in the state before and after the Lok Sabha results.

How do you define your journey? A: BJP has a very strong grassroots organisation in Maharashtra, and our cadre there is extremely strong and well-informed. Before the start of the Lok Sabha elections, we were still in the process of strengthening the alliance. There were some issues between Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). After the loss in the Lok Sabha, we started working even more and acted as a big brother in the alliance.

BJP's robust organizational framework, extending down to the booth and Panna (pramukh) levels, played a crucial role in the party's electoral success. We campaigned not just for our party but for our alliance partners as well, which in the end yielded positive results.