BJP may get 30 of 42 Bengal seats, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: As the bitter Lok Sabha poll campaign heads to a close this week, Union home minister Rajnath Singh has accused the Congress of being responsible for lowering the political discourse, saying never before has the chief of the main Opposition party hurled abuses like “chowkidar chor hai” at the Prime Minister.

Mr Singh also predicted that the BJP will get a majority on its own and that the party-headed NDA can well end up with a two-third majority. He claimed there is a “wave” in favour of the BJP in West Bengal and it could win 30 of the 42 seats at stake in the TMC-ruled state.

On the prospects of him emerging as a consensus candidate for prime ministership to get the support of regional parties for a majority if the NDA falls short of the magic number of 272, Singh said this question does not arise.

The 67-year-old BJP stalwart said he has never sought any post and that he will always abide by the decision of the party.

Asserting there is no question of anyone being the Prime Minister other than Narendra Modi, Singh said, “Modiji is young, energetic, visionary, dynamic so there is no question of any successor for him.”

Stating there is a need for political parties to maintain high standards of poll campaign, Singh accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of stooping low during the poll campaign and lowering the dignity of  the office of the Prime Minister. “Never before has the Prime Minister been called names by a president of a national party. ‘chowkidar chor hai’ slogan was given by Gandhi. This was wrong as Prime Minister is a Prime Minister after all,” Mr Singh said.     — PTI

When reminded about sloganeering against Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi when they were Prime Ministers, Mr Singh said, “it must be a slogan by an ordinary party worker and never by a party president of any national party.”

Mr Singh sidestepped questions on the accusations by the Congress that it was Mr Modi who lowered the political discourse. “President or Prime Minister are not any individuals. They are an institutions in itself and in democracy we should ensure that the dignity of the institutions is not lowered. This should be a cause of concern for everyone as otherwise democracy in the country will weaken,” he said.

“Congress should not have stooped so low by abusing the Prime Minister.”