Tharoor: Opposition's Absence Dampens Election Campaign's Rhythm

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor believes the opposition is gaining momentum in the election campaign after the third phase of polling. He attributes this to the opposition's strong narrative, despite the ruling party's attempts to portray them negatively.

The tempo of the election campaign is with the opposition after polling in more than half of the total Lok Sabha seats, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Friday.

''Can't help adding that while a lot of bull is emerging from the ruling party, the 'Tempo' in this election campaign is with the Opposition,'' Tharoor said on a day the BJP dug out an old video of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar suggesting that India should be fearful of nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Tharoor's ''tempo'' comment came after Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a ''deal'' with ''Ambani and Adani'', and asked if the party had received ''tempo loads of black money'' from the two industrialists for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop ''abusing'' them.

In the first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, voters in 284 of the 543 parliamentary seats exercised their franchise.