Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday took a dig at the Congress by comparing its last three election results with that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and said that the grand old party is “jumping unnecessarily”.
Scindia's comments came as the Opposition created an uproar on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha session over several issues, including the appointment of BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem Speaker, the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG-2024 examination and the relocation of statutes within the Parliament building complex.
“The people who are jumping unnecessarily after winning 99 seats (in the Lok Sabha election) need to understand that their combined total seats in the last three elections stand less than the BJP's seats in 2024. Count their 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, count their 56 seats in 2019, and add their 42 seats in 2014; even after this, they have got less than 240 seats,” Scindia told news agency ANI.
In the recently concluded general elections, the Congress bagged 99 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc won 234 seats.
{{/usCountry}}In the recently concluded general elections, the Congress bagged 99 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc won 234 seats.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 240 seats. It, however, fell short of the simple majority mark of 272 in the 543-strong Lok Sabha. This led to the BJP becoming dependent on its allies - N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) - to form the next government.
Following NDA's victory, Narendra Modi was sworn in as the prime minister for the third consecutive time.
Praising Modi, Scindia said that the PM had set an “unprecedented benchmark”.
“This is the first time in 75 years that something like this has happened. PM Narendra Modi has set an unprecedented benchmark... We have full faith that India will further grow on the global stage under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi,” he said.
On June 11, Scindia took charge as the minister of communications in the Modi 3.0 government. He had won Madhya Pradesh's Guna Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 5,40,929 votes.
Upon taking charge, the BJP leader recalled his previous tenure as the minister of state for communications.
“It is indeed my honour that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given me responsibility of the Communications Ministry. Both the Telecom division as well as the India post division have a tremendous role to play at the global stage as well as on the local stage, to enjoin the hearts of millions of people across the country and the world,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI)