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Modi’s political, moral defeat, says Mallikarjun Kharge on BJP’s LS performance
Kharge said voters didn’t give a clear mandate to any one party and the outcome was a mandate against Modi, who sought votes in his name
NEW DELHI: The Sabha elections outcome is a mandate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a “political and moral defeat” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday as the BJP-led coalition was headed for a narrow victory.
At 7pm, the BJP appeared set to emerge as the single largest party with wins or leads on 239 seats while the coalition, NDA was at 291. The Congress was the second-largest party with 99 leads or wins; the INDIA bloc has 234 seats.
“The people did not give a clear majority to one single party. The BJP sought votes for a single person. The mandate is against Modiji,” Kharge said at a Press conference on Tuesday evening, referring to PM Modi’s oft-repeated target of 400 seats for the NDA.
Kharge said the people saw through the lies spread about the Congress manifesto by the BJP and did not give a complete majority to any single party, particularly the BJP that sought votes on the basis of ‘one person, one face’. “This is their (BJP’s) political and moral defeat,” he said, accusing the BJP of using government machinery to create obstacles in the path of the Opposition alliance.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi added: “This election was not fought against a political party. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah captured and intimidated the agencies… The BJP put chief ministers in jail.”
“The voters have told Modi that they don’t want him,” he said.
Asked if the Opposition would reach out to other parties outside the INDIA bloc, Rahul Gandhi said leaders of the Opposition bloc will meet tomorrow and take a decision.
On the Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma defeating sitting BJP MP Smriti Irani from Amethi, Gandhi said, “BJP doesn’t respect people. Kishori Lal Sharma has been working in Amethi for the past 40 years. He is very closely connected to the people of Amethi. I congratulate him. It is wrong to say he is a PA (personal assistant).”
Rahul Gandhi reiterated that the election was a fight to protect institutions such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the judiciary, and the Enforcement Directorate from being captured by the PM Modi-led government.
“The fight was to save the Constitution… we were sure that the citizens of India would make attempts to guard it and I would like to thank everyone,” he said, thanking the Dalits and farmers for taking steps to save the Constitution.
