The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday declared that Narendra Modi no longer has the moral right to continue as Prime Minister, citing the 2024 Lok Sabha election results as evidence of Modi’s declining popularity.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that the BJP won 282 seats in 2014 and 303 seats in 2019, but in 2024, they are projected to win only around 240 seats. This outcome means no party achieved the simple majority of 272 seats. “The BJP may be the single largest party, but it has not secured a simple majority. There was no Modi wave anywhere, which clearly indicates his popularity has diminished,” the Chief Minister said during a press conference.
He quipped that even in Ayodhya, where Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had conducted the consecration of the Ram Temple, the BJP candidate Lallu Singh lost the election. Siddaramaiah highlighted that Modi resorted to campaigning based on caste and religion towards the end, realizing he was losing ground. In Karnataka, Modi’s claims that reservation would be taken from backward castes and given to Muslims were among the ‘lies’ that failed to resonate with voters.
Siddaramaiah also accused Modi of using governmental agencies like the Directorate of Enforcement, Income Tax Department, and CBI to intimidate and threaten people, seeking votes along caste and communal lines. “The poll verdict showed BJP’s defeat at the national level. Narendra Modi has no moral right to become the Prime Minister of this country,” Siddaramaiah asserted.
The Chief Minister congratulated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his victories in Wayanad and Rae Bareli, attributing public support to Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Nyay Yatra. He noted that the INDIA bloc won more than 130 seats while the NDA lost about 64 seats, with Congress’s vote share increasing by three percent nationally.
While acknowledging that the Congress’s performance in Karnataka did not meet expectations, Siddaramaiah highlighted a significant improvement from 2019. The Congress secured nine seats this time, compared to just one in 2019, with a vote share of 45.34 percent, closely trailing the BJP’s 46.04 percent.
In 2019, the BJP’s vote share was 51.38 percent, and the Congress’s was 31.88 percent. The JD(S) vote share decreased to 5.72 percent from 9.67 percent in 2019. Siddaramaiah congratulated all elected members across party lines and thanked voters and poll officials in Karnataka for ensuring a smooth election process without any incidents.
