BJP won't cross 200 seats, undercurrent against govt in every state: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday, 18 May, said the BJP will not cross the 200-mark in the Lok Sabha while the opposition INDIA bloc will win over 300 seats, and also claimed that there was an undercurrent against the Narendra Modi regime.

Speaking at a rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ground here, attended by allies Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Kharge also said Prime Minister Modi was not paying attention to employment generation and checking inflation.

Modi's motto is to keep the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes poor and backward, and not to give them reservation, he alleged.

Speaking at the rally, Kejriwal said Modi's policy was to arrest opponents if he can't defeat them in polls.

Uddhav Thackeray said that Modi will not be prime minister after 4 June when votes will be counted.

"Modi will not cross 200 seats this time and INDIA alliance will cross 300 seats. I have travelled to every state and there is an undercurrent. Modi is scared and speaking out of fear," Kharge said at the mega gathering that came ahead of the 20 May polling for the remaining 13 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra including six in Mumbai.

Kharge said he laughed when PM Modi said if one has two buffaloes, the Congress will take away one (by imposing inheritance tax). A prime minister should speak like a statesman, he added.

On Modi questioning the work done by the past Congress governments, Kharge said it was due to his party's efforts to preserve democracy that Modi became prime minister. The INDIA alliance will protect the Constitution, he vowed.

Kharge also dubbed Modi a "leader of liars" as none of his promises including creating two crore employment opportunities every year or doubling farmers' incomes were fulfilled.

Uddhav Thackeray claimed that Modi holds a grudge against Maharashtra, and alleged that he wants to make Mumbai "pauper" and take the industry and businesses to Gujarat.

The BJP has "developed stomach pain" (out of jealousy) that Muslims are backing Uddhav Thackeray and the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the state, so the minority community is being labeled as infiltrators, he said.

On PM's remarks that he does not do politics of Hindu-Muslim polarisation, Thackeray said Muslims were being labeled as infiltrators and traitors.

He accused Modi of showing people the fear of Muslims when people talk about unemployment and inflation. The PM shows people the fear of Pakistan, but does not talk about China, he added.

China has made incursions on the border, but neither Modi nor home minister Amit Shah was ready to visit these places, he said, adding that on the other hand, the entire army of the BJP has been unleashed in Maharashtra to finish him.

Sharad Pawar said those who were in power prior to Modi worked to ensure that parliamentary democracy was strengthened. This was the first election after independence where there is concern about how to save the Constitution and people's fundamental rights, he said.

Power is being used to destroy those who take a stand against the PM, he alleged.

"Maharashtra knows that (Shiv Sena founder and Uddhav's late father) Balasaheb Thackeray helped you in distress, but you forgot that," he said.

Hitting back at the prime minister's 'bhatakati aatma' jibe aimed at him, Pawar said "this wandering soul" will do everything to throw Modi out of power.

Video messages by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were played at the rally. Both leaders appealed people to save the Constitution and democracy.

Kejriwal, earlier, also addressed a rally at Bhiwandi near Mumbai where he claimed that Modi had him arrested in the alleged excise policy scam because the AAP government was providing high-quality education and healthcare service in the national capital.