New Delhi. Citing the ‘Agneepath’ scheme and some other issues, the Congress claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot be trusted in matters of national security. Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh also alleged that many failures related to national security were seen during the 10-year rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He posted on ‘X’, “The last 10 years have clearly shown that BJP cannot be trusted in matters of national security.” Ramesh said, “Agniveer weakened the army, there is a serious shortage of soldiers in the army, defense expenditure decreased, China was given a clean chit, ‘Modani’ took over the defense industry.
Congress raised debate in this election, Prime Minister went on back foot: Ramesh
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday that during this Lok Sabha election, his party raised the debate without any ‘ifs and buts’ and Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on the back foot. On the last day of election campaign before the seventh phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh also said in a conversation with ‘PTI-Bhasha’ that the ‘India’ alliance will get a clear and decisive mandate in this election. He said, “After the first two phases, it was clear to me that the wind of change is blowing.” He said that BJP is clean in the south and ‘half’ in North, East and West India.
Ramesh said that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ provided a strong base to the Congress campaign for this Lok Sabha election as it was during this yatra that the former Congress president announced ‘five justices’ and ’25 guarantees’. When asked if the Congress was able to reach out to the people more successfully than in the 2014 and 2019 elections, he said that the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was transformative and it provided a connect for Rahul Gandhi and mass for the organization.
Ramesh, who took over the responsibility of the communication department of the Congress about two years ago, said, “In the beginning itself I had said that as far as communication is concerned, our policy should be ‘ACT’. ‘A’ means ‘aggression’, ‘C’ means ‘cohesive’ and ‘T’ means ‘timely’. He said that in this election, the Congress raised a debate on the protection of the Constitution and democracy. Ramesh said that this time a debate was raised without any ifs and buts and the Prime Minister went on the ‘back foot’.
‘India’ alliance will choose the Prime Minister within 48 hours: Jairam Ramesh
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday that the ‘India’ alliance will get a “clear and decisive mandate” in this Lok Sabha election and the prime minister will be selected within 48 hours of the results. In an interview to PTI-Bhasha on the last day of campaigning before the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh also said that the party in the opposition alliance that gets the most seats will be the “natural contender” to lead the next government.
He also said that after the constituent parties of ‘India Janabandhan’ get the mandate, some constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) can also join this alliance, although the Congress high command will have to decide whether to include them in the alliance or not. Ramesh said that ‘India’ alliance is committed to giving a stable, transparent and responsible government.
Asked if the doors of the ‘India’ alliance will be open for BJP allies like Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu after the elections, the Congress leader said, “Nitish Kumar is a master of flip-flops. Chandrababu Naidu was with the Congress in 2019. All I will say is that when the constituents of ‘India Janabandhan’ get the mandate, some constituents of the NDA may also join ‘India’.”
Along with this, he emphasized that, “Congress high command Kharge, Sonia and Rahul will have to decide.” He said, “There is a difference of only two words between India alliance and NDA. NDA will remain if two ‘I’s are removed from ‘India’. These two I’s mean ‘humanity’ and ‘honesty’. The parties which have humanity and honesty are included in India alliance.” He said that after getting the mandate from the people, the government of ‘India’ alliance will not be ‘authoritarian’ but ‘governance-oriented’. On the question related to the ground situation after six phases of voting in the Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh said that there was no wave in favor of BJP in this election, there was only ‘poison of the outgoing Prime Minister’.