Kerala, TN, K'taka, T'gana...Cong set to get more seats, says Chidambaram

Kolkata: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday asserted that his party would get more seats in the ensuing elections than in 2019 and predicted that the INDIA bloc would secure a resounding victory in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram also said that neither Hinduism nor the Hindus were under any threat and it was the BJP's "calculated strategy" to paint the entire Opposition as "anti-Hindu" to project Modi as the "saviour of Hindus".

He also described West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee as a "key player" in this election and said that her ability to hold the fort in the state will strengthen the INDIA bloc.

"I cannot speak for all the states. I can confidently predict that the INDIA bloc will record a resounding victory in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, the two fronts (UDF and LDF) will share the 20 seats, leaving nothing to the BJP. In Karnataka and Telangana, the Congress governments are popular and Congress will get many more seats than in 2019," Chidambaram told PTI.

The Congress had won 52 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Noting that the Congress may show a vastly improved performance, he said there are also encouraging reports about the INDIA bloc from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi.

The senior Congressman said that PM Narendra Modi accusing the Opposition parties of appeasement politics and calling them a "band of antiHindu politicians bent on breaking India up" is the BJP's strategy for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

'Manmohan a statesman, PM must reflect...

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said Manmohan Singh was a true statesman and that Narendra Modi, at some stage, will have to start thinking about the kind of legacy he leaves behind.

Abdullah said it was obvious that the Centre was using probe agencies against the leaders of the opposition parties."At some point, the PM will start looking at his legacy,'' he said.