Narendra Modi has no moral right to continue as PM, says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, 4 June, said Narendra Modi has no moral right to become prime minister again as the Lok Sabha polls verdict showed that there was no ‘Modi Wave’ anywhere and that his "popularity has diminished".

He even quipped that the BJP candidate Lallu Singh in Ayodhya, where Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had conducted the consecration of the Ram Temple lost the election.

Siddaramaiah said the BJP won 282 seats in 2014 and 303 in 2019, but in 2024, it is winning only around 240 seats, which means that no party got the figure of 272 to get a simple majority.

"The BJP may be single largest party, but it has not got a simple majority. There was no Modi wave anywhere, which means that it is very clear that his popularity has diminished," the chief minister said while addressing reporters.

"I don’t know whether they will form the government or step down but BJP has no simple majority to form the government headed by Narendra Modi," he said.

Siddaramaiah said that towards the end of the election campaign, Modi realised that he was losing and hence he started seeking votes in the name of caste and religion and even started targeting Muslims directly.

In Karnataka, Modi publicised that the reservation would be snatched from the backward castes and will be given to Muslims but none of the ‘lies’ worked for him, he said.

Siddaramaiah alleged that the prime minister sent the chief ministers to the jails, used the Directorate of Enforcement, Income Tax Department, CBI and tried everything at his disposal to threaten and abuse people and sought votes on caste and communal lines.

Stating that the poll verdict showed BJP’s defeat at the national level, the chief minister said, "Narendra Modi has no moral rights to become the prime minister of this country."

"The BJP has, according to me, suffered a major setback and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s leadership has got public support. His Bharat Jodo Yatra and Nyay Yatra got public support. Congress’ vote share has also increased," he said.

He congratulated Rahul Gandhi for winning the election from both Wayanad and Rae Bareli.

"INDIA bloc won more than 130 seats whereas the NDA group lost about 64 seats. Across the country, the Congress vote share increased by three per cent," he said.

Siddaramaiah conceded that the party's performance was not on the expected lines in Karnataka. The calculations went wrong.

"However, in 2019 we had won only one seat but this time we got nine seats. Our vote share this time in Karnataka was 45.34 per cent. BJP’s vote share was 46.04 per cent, which means the difference is less than one per cent," he added.

Further, he said that in 2019, the BJP’s vote share was 51.38 per cent and Congress share was 31.88 per cent. The JD(S) vote share this time was 5.72 per cent, which in 2019 was 9.67 per cent.

The chief minister congratulated all the elected members cutting across party lines and also thanked the voters and the officials on poll duties in Karnataka as no untoward incident took place.