'NDA Govt Will Lose Its Majority': Shashi Tharoor Dubs BJP's '400 Paar' Slogan A 'Joke'

Shashi Tharoor claimed that the BJP will draw a blank in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh and will do worse than its previous Lok Sabha polls performance in the South.

Lok Sabha Elections: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party's '400 paar' claim "a joke", saying that the saffron party would lose its majority in Lok Sabha. The BJP's claim of '400 paar' is a joke, '300 paar' is impossible, and even '200 paar' may be a challenge for it in the Lok Sabha polls, Tharoor said, as reported by news agency PTI on Thursday.

In an interaction with PTI editors at the news agency's headquarters, the Thiruvananthapuram MP claimed that the saffron party will draw a blank in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh and will do worse than its previous Lok Sabha polls performance in the South. Tharoor said he is looking at a "very comfortable win" in Thiruvananthapuram. The senior Congress leader was locked in a three-way contest with Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP and P Raveendran of the CPI in Thiruvananthapuram, where polling took place on April 26.

If Tharoor wins again this time, it will be a fourth consecutive win for the author-politician from Thiruvananthapuram, who is the longest-serving MP from the constituency.

On being asked how it was looking for the Congress and the I.N.D.I.A bloc after two phases of the elections, the former Union minister said that 190 seats have voted so far and it is tremendously positive for our side. "190 seats have voted so far and what I am picking up from my sources, it is tremendously positive for our side. We are not suggesting that there is an overwhelming wave but there certainly isn't one for the government."

During the interaction, Tharoor further said, "In fact, many who have been following elections for some time say that the difference between this election and the ones in 2014 and 2019 is that the predominant emotion of the BJP voters appears to be indifference and lack of enthusiasm".

According to Tharoor, the members of the grand old party are feeling "cautiously optimistic" about many places in Hindi-speaking states that have voted so far. "So, I would say that on balance, we are far more ahead than we would have expected at this time. Of course, there are five more phases to go in this unnecessarily protracted election," the Congress MP said, as quoted by PTI.

On being questioned about how many seats the Congress and the I.N.D.I.A bloc would get in the ongoing polls, Tharoor said in a lighter vein that he does not predict scores even as a cricket fan but only predicts victories. "I would say that right now it looks increasingly likely that the BJP-NDA government will lose its majority. The BJP losing its majority seems to be a foregone conclusion," Tharoor said, as quoted by PTI.

The Congress leader pointed out that in six states the saffron party won every seat, while in three states, it won all but one seat, and in two states, it won all but two seats. He said that this result is "simply not replicable". "In Haryana, the Congress won no seats and the (opinion) polls are indicating five-seven seats for us this time. In Karnataka, we won one seat and this time polls are ranging from 10-17, some are even saying 20," he said, as quoted by PTI.

In all the states that the BJP did so well, they are losing some seats even in a conservative analysis, he said. "This 400 paar is a joke, 300 paar is impossible and (even) 200 paar may be a challenge for them (BJP) to get the way things are going."

Tharoor said that in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the BJP will get "zero" seats, he claimed. In Telangana, they got a handful of seats and would struggle to hold on to those. He further stated that the saffron party would not be able to replicate its good show in Karnataka. In 2019, the BJP won 25 out of 28 seats in Karnataka. In Telangana, it bagged four of 17 seats.

According to Tharoor, there is absolutely no doubt that the BJP is going to do worse than last time in the South.

"In the North, as I said, they did so well last time and it is impossible to replicate that. Both in the North and South they are coming down from where they were. How well we do and how well the INDIA bloc parties do is yet to be seen because after all 353 seats are yet to vote so there is still a big majority of the election yet to happen," he said, as quoted by PTI. But all indications are that this is really an uphill struggle for the BJP and things are not going the government's way, he added.

"I ask objectively, as an Indian citizen, why should a young man who voted for the BJP in 2014 because he was promised a job, still vote for the BJP 10 years later when he still does not have a job," Tharoor said.