Lucknow, Oct 18 (PTI) BJP national general secretary D Purandeswari lauded the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and said before the saffron party came to power in the state, women used to fear venturing out of their houses after 6 pm but now, there is a sense of fear among the criminals.

Before the BJP came to power, entrepreneurs used to be scared of extortion threats and hence, no investor was willing to put their money in Uttar Pradesh but now, there is a "friendly" atmosphere in the state, the saffron party's organisational in-charge of Odisha said.

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"Women were scared to venture out of their houses after 6 pm but now, it is the criminals who are scared," Purandeswari, who is on a three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh to review the party's organisational strength in the state, told reporters here.

Without taking any names, she said, "Our party believes in service and the biggest proof of this is that when other parties were in the ICU after the coronavirus outbreak, BJP workers, without caring for their lives, were serving people."

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There is no dynastic politics and corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she said, adding that no one can accuse the prime minister or any of his ministers of being involved in graft in the last eight years.

"There is no corruption in Uttar Pradesh now and the focus is on development, which is very important," she stressed.

To a question on whether tickets will be given to the family members of ministers, MPs, MLAs in the upcoming civic polls, Purandeswari said there is a method of selecting candidates in the BJP and the party president and other top leaders will take a decision in accordance with it.

Praising the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Purandeswari said "we believe that a leader is the one who converts challenges into opportunities".

Citing an example, she said the prime minister worked on increasing resources during the COVID-19 crisis by turning a shortage of beds and other equipment into opportunities.

"Covid vaccines are being sent to 100 countries from India and that is why we believe that the prime minister is the true leader of the country," Purandeswari said, adding that no one apart from Modi had the courage to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

On the killing of two labourers from Kannauj in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP leader said the organisation and the government will stand by their families.

She also said before the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, the situation was terrible in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two labourers from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh were killed in a grenade attack carried out by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Tuesday.

Describing the formation of a BJP government for two consecutive terms at the Centre as well as in Uttar Pradesh as a major achievement, Purendeswari said Modi follows the spirit of "antyodaya" (uplift of the last man in the queue) and that schemes were framed keeping the interests of the poor at the centre.

To another question, the BJP leader said there is coordination between the government and the party organisation and discussions have also been held on how to maintain it.

Purandeswari, who arrived in Lucknow on Monday, said the national general secretaries of the saffron party are often sent to different states to review its organisational strength there.

She said she met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, party functionaries, public representatives and members of the party's core groups on Monday and Tuesday and will be visiting Ayodhya in the evening.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)