Nitin Gadkari says BJP-NDA will win Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls in 2024

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would retain power at the Centre and in Maharashtra in polls next year on the basis of development work done since 2014.

Gadkari, who is the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, also said the NDA government had instilled a sense of confidence in the people through its development work and good governance, PTI reported.

We will win and once again the BJP and NDA will form the government in both Maharashtra and at the Centre. The good work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will yield good results, Gadkari said. The performance audit is more important than the financial audit, he said, adding the (five-year) performance (of elected representatives) is reviewed by the public at the time of polls.

Asserting his party keeps a very positive attitude and that whatever work it has done on the basis of opportunities provided to it, the Union minister said "the performance rating card of our party, our leadership and our ministers is definitely very important.

I can say with confidence the work that has been done in the last (more than) eight years under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is far more when compared with 60 years of Congress rule, Gadkari said.

We import Rs 16 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel every year but pretty soon our farmers will produce green fuel and green hydrogen, he said, adding that Lithium ion batteries will lead the shift from petrol and diesel driven cars.

Expressing satisfaction at the development of highways in the country, Gadkari said, In the coming years, public transport will be revolutionised in the country and the new highways will bring down travel time between key cities drastically. He, however, said his ministry and the government had failed to curb the accident rate on Indian roads.