A few more months are left for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful that it will win 400 seats in this election.
At the same time, senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has separated from Congress, has indirectly targeted the Congress.
He said that if BJP achieves the target of more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, then the party which fails to lead the opposition alliance ‘India’ will be responsible for it.
Former Congress leader Azad thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for honoring former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh with ‘Bharat Ratna’ and said they deserved the honor for their outstanding contribution to the country.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a public meeting at Garkhal in Pargwal near the international border on the outskirts of Jammu, Azad said, “I am not an astrologer who can tell whether they (BJP) will cross the 400 mark (in the Lok Sabha elections). Will we cross or not? If this happens, those who failed to take everyone along will be responsible.”
He was talking about the possibility of BJP crossing the 400-seat mark in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the concern expressed by National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah over the state of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (India), a coalition of opposition parties. Answering the question, Azad said, “He (Umar) was a minister in the (Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led) BJP government. Perhaps he might have remembered his old loyalty.”
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Azad said that he is neither close to Congress nor to BJP. He said, “Let Congress say whatever it wants to say. For me, if BJP is doing anything wrong, I am the first one to criticize and similarly, if Congress is doing anything right, I will not shy away from giving them credit.”
Azad, who formed the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) in September 2022 after resigning from the Congress, welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s decision to confer ‘Bharat Ratna’ on Rao and Singh.
He said, “When I was tourism minister in his (Narasimha Rao) cabinet, Rao had brought Manmohan Singh as his finance minister. His liberalization policies revolutionized the economy to adjust to the outside world. I advocated a policy of liberalization to end monopolies in air services.”
Azad said, “Singh was the biggest farmer leader and we have not seen anyone coming close to his stature in the farming community. Recognizing their contribution to the country will boost the morale of the farming community.”
He said he was grateful to the Prime Minister for acknowledging the work of both the leaders in the national interest. He said, “If any work has been done in the interest of the country, then it should be appreciated and if the present government is doing it, then we should appreciate it.”
On the current situation in Pakistan, the DPAP leader said that due to the military’s interference in the electoral process, free and fair elections in neighboring countries are a far cry.
He said, “Ever since the formation of Pakistan, we (India) have had differences with it and Pakistan is responsible for the tension between the two countries. Immediately after independence, Pakistan attacked and separated our part, known as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Our brothers are not happy there.”
He said that while India got democracy and saw Prime Ministers changing through the electoral process, it got dictatorship and the military is running the governments there.
He said, “We are fortunate that our army or anyone else is not interfering in our elections and that is democracy. We pray that such an environment is created there (in Pakistan) for the benefit of the public.”