Shillong, Mar 27 (UNI) Former Union Minister and Congress candidate from Shillong parliamentary seat, Vincent Pala, said on Wednesday the BJP would not secure 200 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to infighting within the ruling party.
“I don’t see the BJP securing more than 200 seats in the Lok Sabha because of infighting among themselves in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan,” he said.
“Most senior BJP MPs were denied party tickets. They (BJP) are desperate, and in some North Eastern States, like Meghalaya and Nagaland, they decided not to field candidates,” the veteran Congress parliamentarian said.
Stating that the BJP secured 303 MPs in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Pala, who is seeking reelection to retain the Shillong Lok Sabha seat for fourth consecutive term, predicted that the BJP would not fair well in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and many other states.
“In the South, more than 130 MPs, and this time, the Congress will get maximum seats from Southern states,” he claimed, exuding confidence that the INDIA bloc will get a clear majority to form the next government.
Pala termed Prime Minister Modi's claim that the BJP would get at least 370 seats and NDA would be "400 paar" in the Lok Sabha polls as "hollow."
However, he expressed fear that if the BJP gets 370 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, it would change the Indian Constitution by removing the word ‘socialist’ and secular from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution and turn India into a Hindu Rashtra.
“If the word secular is removed from the Constitution, then our democratic India will be like Pakistan. Pakistan is an Islamic state, Bangladesh is an Islamic state, and Iran is an Islamic state, so we will be like Pakistan; anybody who worships other religions will become illegal,” the former Union Minister said.
He further said Prime Minister Modi's claim that the BJP would get at least 370 seats and the NDA would get "400 paar" in the Lok Sabha elections is aimed at polarising our electorates on religious lines.
“I am sure many of our Hindu friends wouldn’t want India to be like Pakistan. We want a country free from all religious suppression, a country free from all the problems faced like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and others,” Pala said. UNI RRK AKS