New Delhi: Rarely on the same page on most matters political, members in the Treasury benches of the Rajya Sabha broke into a mock applause as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge left the Opposition members red-faced with an “Ab ki baar 400 paar” faux pas.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing budget session, the Leader of Opposition in the House said, “Aapka itna bahumat hai, pehle 330,334 thi, ab to '400 paar' ho raha hai (You have a brute majority of anywhere between 330 and 334 seats and are set to go over 400 this time).”
Even as the senior Congress leader struggled to clarify his remark, the one-liner drew laughter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.
Amid smiles all around, including from Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Kharge said, “Let them top the tally in the polls. Those clapping have the blessings of PM Modi.”
Rubbing it in, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Kharge ji has spoken the truth.”
Hitting back at the BJP, Kharge countered, “Let them blow their own trumpet. They may be claiming to cross 400 seats but won’t even reach 100. I.N.D.I.A is strong.”
To this, Goyal interjected saying, “Everyday, the I.N.D.I alliance seems to be losing a new partner. It is hard to believe that the bloc still exists.”
The BJP shared the viral clip of Kharge on X and captioned it, “PM Modi be like, ‘I need new haters, the old ones have become my fans’.”
However, senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil defended the Congress president saying the saffron party was so full of themselves that they failed to catch the sarcasm in his remark.
“Kharge ji said it in a sarcastic way. He said that you keep saying '400 ke paar' but people will decide this. You will not even cross 100 (seats). BJP fails to understand sarcasm,” Gohil told news agency ANI.