The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win more than 300 seats in next year’s Lok Sabha elections and return to power for the third consecutive time with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.
Addressing a public meeting in Assam’s Dibrugarh, Shah also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on Indian democracy and Parliament abroad and said the party will soon be wiped out from the entire country.
“I would like to tell the Congress that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will win 12 of the 14 seats in Assam. And Modi will become the Prime Minister for the third time by securing an absolute majority with over 300 seats,” he said.
There are a total of 545 seats in the Lok Sabha. Elections are conducted to fill 543 of them. The remaining two seats are filled by nomination of representatives of the Anglo-Indian community.
Highlighting the achievements of the BJP-led Assam government and the schemes and policies introduced in the last two years since Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge as chief minister in May 2021, Shah said: “I would like to thank the people of Assam for starting BJP’s victory march in the northeast in 2016. Now, the party and allies of the (BJP-led) National Democratic Alliance are in power in all states of the region…”
In 2016, the BJP swept the Assam assembly elections, ending 15 years of Congress rule in the state.
{{/usCountry}}In 2016, the BJP swept the Assam assembly elections, ending 15 years of Congress rule in the state.
{{/usCountry}}The Union minister recalled how in the recently-held assembly polls, the BJP returned to power for a second term in Tripura and formed governments as alliance partners in Nagaland and Meghalaya.
Launching an attack on the Congress and its party leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said: “Rahul Gandhi took part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra but the Congress got wiped out in the three northeastern states. He will not change. He goes abroad and denigrates the country. Is this behaviour expected of any patriotic citizen?”
The Congress leader had come under criticism for his remarks on Indian democracy and Parliament in the United Kingdom last month.
“Rahul, it’s high time for you to change. Or else, the Congress would be wiped out of the entire country, like it happened in the northeast. PM Modi secured the country from external threats and brought peace in the northeast, but Congress wants to dig his grave. I can tell them, the more you abuse Modi, the more will BJP’s lotus bloom,” Shah said.
On Shah’s remarks, leader of opposition in Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia said: “Shah’s statements should not be taken seriously. BJP leaders keep making such statements to mislead people. The Congress is in power in several states across the country, on its own and in alliance with partners. The BJP’s intention of trying to wipe out the opposition isn’t healthy for Indian democracy.”
Shah virtually laid the foundation stone of BJP’s zonal office for Upper Assam.
The minister is on a two-day trip to the northeast. On Monday, he visited Kibithoo in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh and launched the Vibrant Village Programme, a scheme to develop villages located close to the international border.