No discussion on JP Nadda's tenure extension: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, Jan 16: There was no discussion on the extension of the tenure of Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said.

Rumours were rife that JP Nadda, whose tenure comes to an end on January 20, is likely to get another term as the BJP chief. However, the Finance Minister clarified that the topic did not come up for discussion on the first day of the National Executive Meeting held in Delhi on Monday.

On asking if the extension of Nadda's tenure was discussed during the meeting, she said, "No discussion was held on that. Today the political proposal has been discussed." "There have been detailed discussions over 9 points introduced in the resolution for this year's NEC. The first discussion was on how opposition parties are using abusive language for attacking PM Modi ji," Sitharaman said.

The Union Minister accused the Opposition of continuously running negative campaigns against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Supreme Court "crushed" their campaigns and "exposed them". "Opposition continuously ran negative campaigns against BJP and used abusive language to attack PM on many issues like Pegasus, Rafael deal, Enforcement Directorate money laundering, Central Vista, Economic basis-reservations, Demonetization. All these cases were fought in court and judgement has been in favour of the central govt. SC crushed Opposition's negative campaigns and exposed them through legal responses," ANI quoted her as saying.

Nirmala Sitharaman then hailed PM Modi's leadership for boosting India's image on the global stage and said that the national executive thanked the Prime Minister.

She then claimed that the party also discussed on the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections. "In Gujarat, we have registered victory by changing anti-incumbency to pro-incumbency. This is not an ordinary but a historic victory. The impact of Gujarat's victory will definitely be seen in the upcoming elections as well including the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In Himachal, we found it difficult to change the custom, but the difference between victory and defeat was less than 1 per cent. This was also discussed," she said.

"It was also mentioned in Nadda ji's speech in the morning that we have to win every upcoming assembly election. BJP workers have to take a resolution," the Minister added.

Earlier, JP Nadda BJP told the leaders in the meeting that the party has to win all nine state assembly polls in 2023 and then the 2024 general elections.

"BJP chief JP Nadda said in the National Executive meeting that 2023 is very important and we have to fight and win nine state elections this year and then general elections in 2024," ANI quoted senior BJP leader and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying.