'400 paar' a joke, '300 paar' impossible, '200 paar' a challenge for BJP: Shashi Tharoor

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has criticized the BJP's '400 paar' claim for the Lok Sabha polls, calling it a joke and suggesting that even '200 paar' may be a challenge for the ruling party. Tharoor, who was in a three-way contest in Thiruvananthapuram, expressed confidence in a «very comfortable win» and predicted that the BJP would draw a blank in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. He also stated that the BJP would perform worse than its 2019 performance in the South.

Tharoor, a Congress Working Committee member and former Union minister, highlighted the current sentiment among BJP voters as one of indifference and lack of enthusiasm. He noted that while there is no overwhelming wave in favor of the Congress and the INDIA bloc, the difference between this election and previous ones is that the BJP appears to be losing its majority, which he considers a foregone conclusion.

Asked how it was looking for the Congress and the INDIA bloc after two phases of the polls, the former Union minister said, «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.»

«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,» Tharoor said during the freewheeling interaction.

Lok