NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday claimed that the Narendra Modi-powered BJP won’t be able to cross 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and it will be wiped out of Parliament. Speaking to reporters in Amethi, Kharge said, “I said – they (BJP) keep saying that they will cross 400 (LS seats), but this time they will be out of Parliament.” The Congress president hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his guarantee is not for the farmers, labourers, Dalits, tribal and backward people of the country.
Denying any rift with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, Kharge said, ‘”Everything will be alright. He has agreed and our people have agreed too. There is no problem.” Kharge on Saturday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and described it as a ‘curse’ for the country’s farmers.
#WATCH | In UP’s Amethi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge says, “I said – they (BJP) are saying that they will cross 400 (LS seats), but this time they will be out of Parliament.” https://t.co/mr3cU5wfmC
— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2024
Interestingly, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today made his participation in the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra conditional to a decision on seat sharing, saying that he will be joining it the moment the seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections are distributed between the two parties. “Right now talks are going on, lists have come from their side and from ours as well, the moment the seats are distributed and decided, the Samajwadi Party will join Congress’s Nyaya Yatra,” Yadav said speaking to reporters on Monday.
The Congress president accused the Modi government of treating farmers like enemies. Kharge asserted that only the Congress party can provide farmers with the legal right to a Minimum Support Price (MSP).
“The Modi government is a curse for the country’s food-providing farmers. Due to the continuous false ‘Modi’s Guarantee’, first 750 farmers lost their lives, and now, yesterday, one farmer lost his life and 3 have lost their eyesight due to rubber bullets. The Modi government has treated farmers like enemies, Only Congress will give them the legal right of MSP!” he said in a post on ‘X’.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his poll promises, Kharge said the former is the chief of all liars as he failed to even fulfil what he had promised during his 2014 poll campaign.
“I want to ask him what happened to the promises he made during 2014–he never fulfilled those. Modiji jhuton ka sardar hai (PM Modi is the chief of liars),” Kharge said addressing party workers at an event hosted by Maharashtra Congress in Pune.
The Congress national president said people keep praising PM Modi despite the latter not doing much work in the last 10 years.
Kharge cautioned that if such a scenario continues, the Constitution will “vanish”.
“PM Modi keeps lying…you all know what he did in the last ten years. Still, people praise him…if this continues, then there will soon come a day when the Constitution will vanish. We are waging a fight to protect the Constitution and have to keep fighting,” he said.
Describing Prime Minister Modi as “individualistic,” Kharge alleged that the former does not even take his party’s name while announcing his “guarantees.” “PM Modi keeps on saying that this is Modi ki Guarantee…he never uses his party name. He is very individualistic and full of himself,” the Congress president said.
Claiming further that the BJP had no role in the country’s freedom struggle, Kharge added, “We are fighting for the country and its founding ideals all over again. The BJP had no role or contribution to our freedom struggle. We fought for the country.”
Taking a dig at the Congress, PM Modi earlier this month said that even Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge has predicted the return of the NDA government with over 400 seats.
PM Modi made this remark during his response to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in Lok Sabha.
During a session in the Rajya Sabha on February 2, Kharge inadvertently coined what would become a rallying cry for the BJP, stating “Abki Baar, 400 Paar,” which translates to “This time, over 400 seats.”
“Our third tenure is not far away, a maximum of 100-125 days are left. The entire nation is saying ‘abki baar, 400 paar’. Even Kharge ji said that,” PM Modi said while replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in Lok Sabha.
He expressed confidence that the BJP would not only secure a third term but also achieve an impressive victory by winning over 370 seats individually and crossing the 400 mark with the support of the NDA bloc. Modi’s remarks were met with laughter, including his own, as he acknowledged Kharge’s statement, suggesting that even the opposition leader seemed to predict the ruling party’s electoral success.
Modi further criticised the Congress party, implying that they had become comfortable in their role as the opposition and were preparing to occupy the spectators’ gallery in Parliament. He also took a veiled swipe at Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party’s alleged nepotism, criticizing the repeated promotion of the same leadership without success.
PM Modi indirectly referenced Rahul Gandhi by stating that the Congress is on the brink of shutting down its shop, emphasizing that they keep trying to relaunch the same product repeatedly.