The Bharatiya Janata Party will be fielding Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as the party’s chief ministerial candidate again in the upcoming assembly elections.

Party president Amit Shah announced this on Saturday at the concluding session of the BJP’s state working committee meeting in Jaipur. He said the election would be contested under her leadership and expressed confidence that she would win again with a thumping majority.

Shah claimed that the party would also return to power in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the two other states going to elections later this year.

He asked party workers to remain dedicated and work hard to ensure that the BJP retains power in the state and also wins the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, according to a press statement.

Praising Vasundhara Raje government, Shah said the welfare schemes launched by Rajasthan had been appreciated across the country, and suggested that party workers should highlight them during the election campaign.

Raje too exuded confidence that the party would get more seats this year than it got in the last assembly elections, and also win all 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

Suman Sharma, chairperson of the Rajasthan State Commission for Women, told reporters that Shah gave a clear message that Raje would be the party’s chief ministerial face.

MLA Ashok Parnami said Shah urged that every worker should dedicate 18 hours a day for the party for the next few months. “The party workers are full of energy and fully charged,” he said.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Shrichand Kriplani claimed the BJP would get than 180 of the 200 assembly seats in the elections.

Shah also attended a wedding function of Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday, where Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was also present.

Addressing a separate meeting of the Rajasthan BJP’s social media cell, Shah accused the Congress of playing “negative politics” and said the party’s cyber warriors would set the agenda of the elections.

He asked them to take the work done by the central and state governments among the masses through social media.

(With agency inputs)