Prime Minister Narendra Modi will get a third term with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) getting the biggest mandate ever in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said after the poll announcement by the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday.
Mr. Chouhan also claimed that the Congress will be reduced to its lowest-ever vote share and seats in the elections.
“The BJP and the NDA will get a historic majority this time and Modiji will again become the Prime Minister with a record mandate. And the Congress will get completely marginalised as it will receive the lowest ever votes and seats,” he said, claiming that the Opposition party was lacking all three “a leader, leadership and intent”.
The Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in seven phases across the country, will cover the 29 seats of Madhya Pradesh in the first four phases — April 19 and 26, May 7 and 13.
‘Unable to find leaders’
Mr. Chouhan also taunted the Congress over the delay in its candidate declaration in Madhya Pradesh and claimed that it was “not able to find leaders” to contest the polls. “Big (Congress) leaders are aware of the outcome and hence are hesitant to fight the elections,” he said.
While the BJP has fielded candidates on all 29 seats, the Congress is yet to declare names on 18 seats and its ally in the INDIA coalition Samajwadi Party has also not named anyone on Khajuraho seat, which has gone in its kitty as part of their seat sharing arrangement.
The former Chief Minister, who has been fielded from Vidisha, said that he will visit the Lok Sabha constituency to seek blessings of the public but will also campaign where the party sends him.
Meanwhile, State BJP president V. D. Sharma said that the BJP workers have already begun working on all “64,523 polling booths of Madhya Pradesh and will ensure the party’s victory on each booth”.
“I am certain that Madhya Pradesh will make history this time with the BJP winning all 29 Lok Sabha seats of the State,” he told reporters after the poll announcement.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that about 50,000 Congress workers in different parts of the State were “ready to leave the party”.
“Today, there’s a campaign going on in M.P. to leave the Congress. Wherever Rahul Gandhi is going, people are leaving Congress in those places,” he said, claiming that in the coming elections, the Congress would be in a “worse position”.
Kamal Nath’s appeal
Another former Chief Minister and Congress veteran Kamal Nath took to social media platform X to urge the party workers to take the Congress’ poll promises to the public.
“I appeal to the Congress workers of the entire State and Chhindwara that now there is very little time left. Whatever work the Congress has done for the country, the State and Chhindwara, it should be taken before the public and the promises of the Congress should be presented to the public in clear words and with full enthusiasm,” he wrote.
“With the organised and collective power of all of you, the Congress will perform brilliantly in the general elections and will achieve victory. Jai Congress, Vijay Congress,” added Mr. Nath, whose son and sitting MP Nakul Nath is again in the poll fray from the family bastion of Chhindwara.
Meanwhile, State Congress chief Jitu Patwari said that the public should question the BJP on the promises it made in the past 10 years in the name of double-engine government.
“People should also ask the Madhya Pradesh Government as to what happened to the promises made under Modi’s guarantees,” he said in a statement.
