BJP struggling to reach 200 seats in LS polls: Kharge

Bhubaneswar: Asserting that INDIA bloc will form the next government at the Centre, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the BJP and its partners are struggling to get 200 seats as people are opposed to their policies. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the NDA will secure 400-plus seats this time, Kharge asked, "From where the BJP will get these seats? You (Modi) are nowhere in sight in South India. In the rest of the country, seats will come down by half. BJP will not form the government at the Centre. It will struggle to secure 200 seats."

Addressing a press conference, he pointed out that the NDA partners are facing difficulties in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. "You are also facing problems in Odisha as people are in a mood to vote for the



Congress as they are fed up with both the BJD and the BJP," Kharge added. Lambasting both the BJD and BJP, the Congress president claimed that the Naveen Patnaik government will be voted out and the Congress will come to power in the state.

Dwelling upon various failures of the state and central governments, Kharge hoped that this time the coalition government will come to power at the Centre to save democracy and protect the Constitution as well as to make India united. Dismissing Modi's guarantees, Kharge said, "In the past too, the PM had made promises like Rs 15 lakh per family, doubling of income of farmers by 2022, two crore jobs per year and others. Those have not been fulfilled. Rather Modi increased the prices of all commodities including oil and cooking gas."