CM: Modi has no right to continue as PM after 'diminishing popularity'

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said Narendra Modi has no moral right to become prime minister again as the Lok Sabha polls verdict showed that there was no ‘Modi Wave' anywhere and that his "popularity has diminished".

He even quipped that the BJP candidate Lallu Singh in Ayodhya, where Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had conducted the consecration of the Ram Temple lost the election.

Siddaramaiah said the BJP won 282 seats in 2014 and 303 in 2019, but in 2024, it is winning

only around 240 seats, which means that no party got the figure of 272 to get a simple majority. "The BJP may be single largest party, but it has not got a simple majority. There was no Modi wave anywhere, which means that it is very clear that his popularity has diminished," the CM said.

"I don't know whether they will form the government or step down but BJP has no simple majority to form the government," he said.

Siddaramaiah said that towards the end of the election campaign, Modi realised that he was losing and hence he started seeking votes in the name of caste and religion and even started targeting Muslims directly.

In Karnataka, Modi publicised that the reservation would be snatched from the backward castes and will be given to Muslims but none of the ‘lies' worked for him, he said.

Siddaramaiah alleged that the prime minister sent the chief ministers to the jails, used the Directorate of Enforcement, Income Tax Department, CBI and tried everything at his disposal to threaten and abuse people and sought votes on caste and communal lines.

Stating that the poll verdict showed BJP's defeat at the national level, the chief minister said, "Narendra Modi has no moral right to become the prime minister of this country." "THe BJP has, according to me, suffered a major setback and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's leadership has got public support,'' he said.