Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], April 21 (ANI): Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that the Congress is now incapable of contesting on 300 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who landed in Ranchi to address the INDIA bloc rally, said he has not taken responsibility to answer every question of PM, declaring that the numbers needed to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power are with them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress which had once won 400 seats is now incapable of contesting on 300 seats in this Lok Sabha election.
“Let him (PM Modi) speak whatever he wants to. I am not here to answer his questions. The number needed to stop them (BJP) are there with us,” Kharge told ANI.
He further thanked former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren‘s wife Kalpana Soren, Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and Congress workers for organising a rally.
“There were lakhs of people (in the rally). I was late as I was in a programme in Satna, Madhya Pradesh. I was happy that Mrs Soren, the Chief Minister and Congress organised such a huge rally. INDIA bloc has got an asset because of this rally,” he added.
The grand rally was being held amidst the Lok Sabha polls in the absence of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and the AAP’s Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, two of the key faces of the INDIA bloc. Both Hemant Soren and Kejriwal are in judicial custody.
Earlier today, taking a jibe at the deteriorating condition of the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress which had once won 400 seats is now incapable of contesting on 300 seats in this Lok Sabha election adding that the party is the “symbol of instability.”
He further said that the Congress party, which is a symbol of instability, and its alliance can never run the country properly.
“Congress was in power for 60 years; once they used to win 400 seats, but today they can’t even find candidates for 300 seats. They are paying the price of their wrongdoing. Now they have made an opportunistic alliance in the name of the INDIA bloc which got its wings clipped before it could take flight. The so-called allies are contesting against each other in the States and at least in 25 per cent of seats,” PM Modi said.
Addressing a public rally in Rajasthan’s Jalore, PM Modi said that the people of the country is punishing the Congress for its “sins”.
“You have given your blessings to BJP every time, this time too, the people of Jalore-Sirohi are saying ‘Phir ek baar Modi sarkar’. In the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections, half of Rajasthan has taught a good lesson to the Congress party. The patriotic people of Rajasthan know that Congress couldn’t provide a strong government in the Centre. Their government used to run on remote control. The country does not want the conditions that existed before 2014 to return again,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister further without naming Sonia Gandhi, slammed the former Congress president for choosing the Rajya Sabha route to reach Parliament.
“The Congress party itself is responsible for the condition it has reached today. Earlier, Rajasthan sent former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Rajya Sabha, and now you have another leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha (Sonia Gandhi). People who knew that they could not win, ran away from the race and reached Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Congress hollowed the country by spreading the termites of ‘parivaarwad’ and corruption. The youth of the country is so angry with Congress that it doesn’t want to see their face again,” the PM said.
The first phase of voting for 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories was held on Friday with a voter turnout of nearly 64 per cent. The estimated voter turnout was recorded at 63.89 per cent till 9:00 pm in the first phase of polling. (ANI)
