BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday filed his nomination for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar in the presence of union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani.
Shah reached the state capital Gandhinagar at 2 PM where he completed the formality of filing the nomination papers in the collector's office. After completing the procedure, Jaitley told media persons that “the top leadership has come to Gandhinagar for the nomination that shows that Gandhinagar constituency is important. This seat has been represented by Adavaniji ( LK Advani), Vajpayeeji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee). In view of this importance, the party nominated the president to contest the polls from this seat. We will win here with a record margin and all the 26 seats. Modiji will become the prime minister for the second time.”
Before reaching Gandhinagar, Shah addressed a gathering in Naranpura in Ahmedabad which is also his home turf. Addressing the gathering of party workers and supporters, Shah said, ‘This election will be fought only on the issue of who will lead the country. This is the only issue. When I ask this same question to people from Himachal to Kanyakumari and from Kamrup (Assam) to Gandhinagar, I can only hear one sound… 'Modi, Modi, Modi.”
Trying to connect with the impressive gathering, Shah recalled how he had started as a ward-level worker for the party in the 80s. If you remove BJP from me, I am zero. He said that he was fortunate to get the ticket for Gandhinagar seat. He said that “The country will be safe in the hands of Narendra Modi and therefore, I appeal to you to give all the 26 seats to him.”
To endorse Shah’s candidature, union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari and leaders of NDA allies, including Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal and Lok Janshakti Party founder Ram Vilas Paswan were present on the stage.
All the leaders praised Shah for his organisational skills and said that they were confident of forming the government once again. Thackeray, on the other hand, said that there were some differences but they have been sorted out.
Shah is going to contest Lok Sabha polls for the first time from the Gandhinagar seat, which has been a BJP stronghold for nearly three decades.
A grand four-km road-show was also organised in Ahmedabad.