Panaji, Sep 20 (IANS): The BJP will not need to poach Congress MLAs after the 2022 state assembly polls because the party will win a "historic majority" in the elections, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP's in-charge for the 2022 Goa assembly polls Devendra Fadnavis said here on Monday.
Fadnavis also said that while the Congress is facing a crisis of confidence and is unfit to rule, the Aam Aadmi Party's political prowess is limited to erecting hoardings and banners ahead of elections.
"We will not face this situation in 2022. We are coming with a full majority in 2022. We are not complacent. Each election is a challenge. We will overcome all the challenges and I am confident," Fadnavis told a press conference in Panaji.
"The CM, the ministers and (party) office bearers together, we will get a historic majority. People can see how much help you get from the Centre when there is the same government," Fadnavis also said.
The most seats the BJP has won in the 40-member Goa legislative assembly has been 21 in 2012. In the 2017 polls, the party won a mere 13 seats but manage to cobble up a majority thanks to post poll alliances with regional political parties, which had gone into the polls with an anti-BJP agenda.
From 2017-2019, 15 MLAs -- 13 from the Congress and two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party -- joined the ruling BJP.
The Maharashtra Leader of Opposition is on a two-day visit to Goa, his first to the coastal state after he was appointed as the BJP's poll in-charge.
Commenting on the BJP's political rivals, the Congress and the AAP, Fadnavis said that neither could match up to the popularity of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa and across the country.
"You see the Congress is in a very bad state. They are asking for a full time president. They themselves are asking for a full time leader. On one hand there is Modi who works 24/7 only thinking of the country and on the other hand there is the Congress.
The congress is having a crisis of confidence. They are not fit to rule," Fadnavis said.
"We have also seen the AAP's banners and posters. That is their limit. Wherever there is an election, we see their banners and posters. But to run a country, you need the mettle to do it. You need to show your presence, that's fine, but you need more than that," Fadnavis also said.