Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the country need not have to wait till September 2025 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not remain at the helm after June 4, when results of Lok Sabha polls will be declared.
Tharoor's comments come a day after AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal claimed Modi is asking for votes for Home Minister Amit Shah, who will be his successor after Modi "retires" on turning 75 in September 2025.
"A new government will come to power at the Centre in June. There is no need to wait till September 2025," Tharoor said while responding to a query on Kejriwal's remarks. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, the Thiruvananthapuram MP alleged Modi has lowered the standard of public discourse and the language being used by him is not good for the country.
He justified the Congress' decision to decline the invitation for the consecration ceremony of Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya earlier this year, saying the BJP doesn't have copyright on Lord Ram.
"I go to temples for praying and not for doing politics. They are misusing the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony in Ayodhya for politics. Should I surrender Lord Ram to BJP?", Tharoor asked.
The Congress leader further claimed the BJP has failed to hold a substantive dialogue on issues like rising inflation, unemployment, the failure to double the income of farmers income and the decline in the income of 80 per cent of the population.
Replying to a query on Kejriwal's remarks on the "retirement age" of Modi, Tharoor said, ''Will BJP make the exception for one person? Anyway, we need not have to wait till September 2025. Modi will not be PM after June 2024 (when the results of Lok Sabha elections will be out),'' Tharoor cited "compulsions of coalition politics" when asked why Congress hasn't named even a single Muslim candidate in Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra.
"In coalition politics, a party has to contest lesser number of seats," he added.
He said making concessions in the larger interest of the alliance cannot be called a surrender.
The Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra along with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Tharoor claimed the BJP has failed to give representation to Muslims in the government.
"All Muslim leaders who were part of the Vajpayee era were phased out after Modi's first term (as prime minister),'' he said.
"Allies are standing with us. There is mutual respect unlike in the BJP-led NDA where Akali Dal and BJD have spurned the BJP," Tharoor said, adding that former PMs Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh ran the coalition governments excellently.
He claimed Modi wants to run the parliamentary system of democracy in a Presidential style.
According to Tharoor, the Congress' priority is to protect the essential character of cosmopolitan Mumbai. ' "After three phases of polling, a change is visible in the air, " he said.
Tharoor campaigned for Congress nominees Varsha Gaikwad and Bhushan Patil who are in the fray from Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North seats, respectively, against BJP's Ujjwal Nikam and Union minister Piyush Goyal.
Voting for all six Parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai is scheduled for May 20.
"I am confident that there will be good results in the favour of Congress," Tharoor added.
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