"Our effort is to touch 400...": Ramdas Athawale on Shashi Tharoor's "Abki Baar 400 Paar a complete fantasy" statement

Reacting to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's "Abki Baar 400 Paar a complete fantasy" statement, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said that the Bharatiya Janata Party "effort" is to touch 400.

Reacting to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's "Abki Baar 400 Paar a complete fantasy" statement, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said that the Bharatiya Janata Party "effort" is to touch 400. Shashi Tharoor termed the BJP's slogan 'Abki Baar 400 Paar' a "complete fantasy" and said due to the Balakot airstrike following the Pulwama terror attack before the 2019 general elections, the BJP "maxed out" in a number of states.

"Shashi Tharoor might have said that but our effort is to touch 400. Voter turnout is less due to heat. Arrangements should be made for old people. I am going to write a letter to the Election Commission," Athawale told ANI. Tharoor also said that the previous elections, which should have been a referendum on the "economic failures" of the Modi government, turned into a "national security election."

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, the Congress leader said, "...It was already very clear when the BJP started talking about 'Abki Baar 400 Paar' that this was a complete fantasy. Last time in 2019, thanks to the tragedy in Pulwama the response in Balakot and the conversion of the election from what should have been a referendum on the economic failures of the first term of Mr Modi, it became a national security election in 2019. As a result, they (the BJP) maxed out in a number of states...". He also claimed that the strongholds of the BJP are showing minimal turnout (after the end of the fifth phase of polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections)

"In all those 11 states, those results are impossible to replicate and we are already seeing this very clearly...The strongholds of the BJP show minimal turnout and a significant drop in voting figures. Whereas the Congress candidates and the INDIA bloc had attracted enthusiasm, the voting was carried out in good numbers...Our confidence has gone up even further...," Tharoor added. The Congress MP also refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding Congress's ally the AAP and its Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal.

"...The AAP has issued a statement on the matter which, I believe, cannot be improved and doesn't need to be added to. I honestly feel that this is a serious attempt to distract from the real issues facing the nation - unemployment, inflation...We have to focus on what touches the lives of ordinary Indians, not on these other issues. The media is often requested by the BJP to serve as a weapon of mass distraction. I request you, don't oblige this. Distraction from the real issues doesn't serve anyone's interests," Tharoor said. The National Capital will go to the polls on May 25. The first five phases of polling were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. The next two rounds of voting will be held on May 25 and June 1. The counting and results will be announced on June 4. (ANI)

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