Muslims will get representation in UP govt: BJP's Venkaiah Naidu

Delhi: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday that Muslims will get representation in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh even though the party did not field any candidate from the community in the recent Assembly elections in the state.

The minister said in an interview to Hindustan Times - “If (a Muslim) MLA is not there, an MLC (member of legislative council) will be there… there will be Muslim representatives in the government."

On BJP not fielding any Muslim candidate in UP, he said, "It was a weakness, not a mistake. We could not find suitable candidates confident of winning; whom the party thought could win.”

At the same time, Naidu added that a section of Muslims had supported the BJP in the elections.

"Because of the triple talaq issue, Muslim women, especially younger women, voted for us,” he told HT.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after accepting felicitations from party leaders and supporters at BJP headquarters, had said that he saw the election results, particularly in UP, as the "foundation of the new India".

He had added that the BJP-led dispensation would take everybody along as "in democracy governments are formed with a majority but run with consensus".

Noting that the government had no right to discriminate against anybody, PM Modi had said, "This government is of those who have voted for it and also those who have not. Of those who have walked along, and also of those who have not."

"Everybody will join in the making of a new India," he had further said. 

Driven by the 'Modi wave', the BJP on March 11 stormed to power in UP after 14 years, securing three-fourths majority and demolishing rivals SP- Congress and BSP in a keenly-contested Assembly polls.

Showing astonishing performance, the BJP got 312 seats in the 403-member Assembly. Its allies Apna Dal(S) and SBSP bagged nine seats and four seats, respectively, taking the total tally of the combine to 325.

On the other hand, the SP won 47 seats while its ally the Congress got 7 seats. The BSP won just 19 seats, finishing a dismal third.

Significantly, the Congress lost all the four Assembly seats in Amethi district, the pocket borough of Nehru-Gandhi family, with BJP bagging three of them.

The BJP-led alliance swept all the eight Assembly segments falling under PM Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

(With PTI inputs)