Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah for Bharatiya Janata Party's big win in West Bengal and Assam, saying that they are “very good at conducting elections”.
The BJP swept the West Bengal assembly polls, winning 206 seats out of 294, ending Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule. This is the first win the party has registered in Bengal since independence.
Hailing the work the BJP put behind winning the elections, Tharoor said that the party has “strong organisational strength” and that there is a lot to learn from them.
“They (PM Modi and HM Amit Shah) have done a good job in Bengal and Assam and that's partially because they are very good at conducting elections. They are professionally organised. They have strong organisational strength. They put a lot of resources, including financial resources, into their campaign,” Tharoor told news agency ANI.
“There are things that all of us can learn from that. I would only hope that their message will be one of uniting Indians and not dividing them,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“There are things that all of us can learn from that. I would only hope that their message will be one of uniting Indians and not dividing them,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Track live updates of election results here
In West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost from Bhabanipur to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.
‘Congress party should learn lesson’
While praising the BJP, Tharoor also asked his own party, Congress, to do some “very serious introspection” after its return to power in Kerala by upending the Left rule in the state.
Also read: Woman in male-dominated field, how Mamata Banerjee lost Bengal to ‘outsider’ BJP
Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) scored major win in Kerala in assembly polls this year. While Congress won 63 out of 140 seats, its ally Indian Union Muslim League won 22, giving a comfortable victory to their alliance.
Reacting to Congress' win in Kerala, Tharoor, who is an MP from the state, said that the party needs to learn what went right in Kerala and understand how that can be replicated at other places too.
“I think the party will have to do some very serious introspection, no doubt about it. We've said this before, and today we have a very good example of what worked right,” Tharoor said.
“If we can get it right in Kerala, what can we do to get it right elsewhere? That is a lesson the Congress party should learn,” he added.
Assembly elections in Kerala were held in single phase on April 9 and the results were declared on May 4. While Community Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front failed to retain power in the state, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan won from Dharmadam seat.