Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress promoting appeasement politics, planning to blame EVMs for defeat, says Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur. File pic

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday accused the Congress of promoting appeasement politics while claiming that the party had foreseen its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and was planning to blame EVMs for the loss, reported news agency PTI.

Addressing election meetings in his Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP leader claimed that the Congress was on a slippery ground and hence was making statements in favour of Pakistan.

Referring to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan having the atom bomb, he said the opposition party has forgotten that India defeated Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and 1999 Kargil war.

"India has proved that we kill terrorists in their home," the BJP leader, seeking a fifth term from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, added, reported PTI.

Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan have sparked a political row. While the Congress has been quick to dissociate itself from the comments, the ruling BJP latched on to them, accusing the opposition party of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil.

Aiyar, however, has said the video was old and has been dredged up now as the BJP's election campaign was faltering.

In his election rallies on Sunday, Thakur claimed that the BJP would win 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, including all four in Himachal Pradesh, and sought the blessings of the people to ensure a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for faster development and growth of the country, reported PTI.

The Congress government was replete with mega scams and the party looted the country for years, the BJP leader alleged.

But Modi had declared that his government would neither indulge in corruption nor let others do so, he said, adding there has been no allegation of corruption under his government and the country's crumbling economy has become the fifth largest in the world.

With a hattrick of victories for the Modi government, India would become the third largest economy in the world, Thakur said.

The NDA government constructed four crore houses for the poor in the past 10 years and is committed to constructing three crore houses in the next five years, he said, reported PTI.

It built 12 crore new toilets, provided tap water to 13 crore houses, gave free LPG cylinders to 10 crore women under the Ujjawala scheme, and provided free treatment to 60 crore people under Ayushman Bharat, he added, reported PTI.

The Union Minister claimed that with people's support, the Modi government has ensured the all-round development of the country and asserted that employment has increased and inflation has come down.

Polling in all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh will be held in the last of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections 2024 on June 1. Bypolls to six assembly seats in the state, which fell vacant following the disqualification of rebel Congress MLAs, will be held simultaneously.

(With inputs from PTI)