Leading 2-0 after 2 rounds, says PM Narendra Modi

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 27

With the focus shifting to the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 7, rival BJP and Congress camps on Saturday claimed to be in comfortable position after voting in 190 constituencies in the first two phases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed a rally in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur on Saturday, employed a football analogy to send a message to the masses that the BJP-led NDA camp was upbeat after the first two phases.

“After the conclusion of the second phase voting, the BJP and NDA are leading by 2-0. The Congress and INDI Alliance have already scored two self-goals on the counts of anti-nationalism and politics of hate. Therefore, ‘Phir ek baar Modi sarkar’ is a given,” the PM said hours after former Finance Minister P Chidambaram painted a happy picture for the opposition camp which, the PM said, “was struggling to even reach three digits let alone the doors of power”.

Chidambaram said news from states that polled on April 26 was “very encouraging for the Congress”. “Kerala takes the pride of place. The UDF is expected to repeat the splendid performance of 2019 (when it bagged 19 of 20 seats). In Karnataka, the Congress will vastly improve its score from ‘one’ in 2019. In Rajasthan where the BJP has all 25 seats, the Congress will win many and return with a handsome score,” Chidambaram said. Amid the game of nerves, the PM said the people would now have to assume the role of “ball carriers” to ensure the Congress-led INDI Alliance lost the remaining rounds too.

Shrillness of the campaign intensified as the poll cycle progressed to the next level in which 94 seats across 12 states will vote on May 7.

The ruling BJP and opposition Congress both accused one another of harbouring the ambition to “change the Constitution if elected”.

“The Congress wants to change the Constitution to dilute SC, ST and OBC quota in favour of Muslims and will implement the Karnataka model nationally,” Modi told a receptive crowd in Maharashtra where he called the Karnataka model of Congress “dangerous in that it declares Muslims as backwards to entitle them to the OBC quota”.

The PM again hurled his charge that the Congress “through inheritance tax will grab half the ancestral property which people inherit”.

The Congress continued to defend its manifesto with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge describing the BJP as a “factory of lies”.

AICC general secretary Priyanka Vadra, speaking in Gujarat’s Valsad, accused the PM of lying and said, “We have seen many PMs. Everyone honoured their role. But this is one PM who lies to the people,” she said countering the PM-led BJP assault on the Congress over the Muslim reservation issue. She also said that in every wedding there is one uncle who says all kinds of things. “One day this uncle started saying that some party, upon forming the government, will deploy an X-ray machine to trace and snatch your jewels. The PM is using his position to peddle mistruths,” she added.

Kharge also dismissed BJP accusations that the Congress manifesto mirrored Muslim League aspirations and said, “This factory of lies that the PM has will not run for very long. The PM says unreasonable things when he is anxious....He is attributing to the Congress manifesto what it does not mention.”

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