Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday (February 2) humorously referred to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election slogan “abki baar 400 par”, and said that the BJP is posed to surpass the 400 seats mark in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the moment which left Prime Minister Narendra Modi in splits.
“With a current majority of 330-334 seats, this time it will be above 400," Kharge said in Rajya Sabha.
“Let them secure the first position. Those present here clapping have come with the 'kripa' (blessing) of PM Modi,” the Congress leader added.
Taking part in the amusing turn of events in the Upper House, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal applauded the Congress leader’s remarks, “Kharge ji spoke the truth”.
Kharge takes U-turn
Later, Kharge contradicted his earlier statement taking a U-turn, and asserted that the BJP would not even cross 100 seats mark in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “INDIA (bloc) is strong,” he said.
Goyal responded to the remark and said, “daily one of the I.N.D.I.A bloc member is leaving the alliance. We don't know whether the INDI alliance exists or not”.
The video of the banter was shared by the BJP’s X handle, captioning it as, “PM Modi be like, "I need new haters, the old ones have become my fans..."
The entire sequence brought about a light moment among the Parliamentarians as those on the Treasury bench, including PM Modi, broke into laughter.
Union Minister Smriti Irani shared the video on her Twitter account and tweeted, "Opposition also accepted, BJP will cross 400-mark in the third time!"
Congress terms Kharge’s remarks as “sarcasm”
Defending Kharge's '400 paar ho raha hai' remark, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil asserted that the party chief said in a sarcastic manner.
"Kharge ji said that in a sarcastic manner. He said that you keep saying '400 ke paar' but people will decide this and you will not even cross 100 (seats) but BJP fails to understand the sarcasm," Congress MP said.
Lok Sabha elections
As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, India's political landscape is undergoing a significant reshuffling. The emerging INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) consortium is gearing up to challenge the established National Democratic Alliance, setting the stage for an electoral showdown.
Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA won 353 seats, the UPA stood at 91, and Others won 98. The voting was staggered in seven phases between April 11 and May 19, in which around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million eligible people exercised their franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha.
The Lok Sabha elections likely to be held this year in April.
(With ANI inputs)
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