Sharma says Rahul to be PM if Cong gets maximum number of seats Polls not tough, BJP is building hype around its candidate: Kharge

PANAJI: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma on Sunday said Rahul Gandhi will be the next prime minister of the country if the Congress gets the highest number of seats in the April-may Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his NDA government will face the same fate as the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2004 when the BJP lost despite a robust 'India Shining' campaign.

"Leaders will decide who will be the next PM. It all depends on which party leads. If it is the Congress, then the next PM will be our chief Rahul Gandhi," he said.

"There are pre-poll alliances and also there is postpoll coalition. It will all depend on the results," he added.

Predicting the BJP'S performance in the ensuing general elections, Sharma said, "This question was put before us in 2004 when a far better PM, in the form of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was there but what happened? India Shining lost. The same is going to happen now."

"I am not an astrologer but one thing I can tell you is that Modi will not become PM and the BJP will be defeated.

Congress will get a high number of seats," he claimed.

"The question today is what is the narrative? Is the PM promising anything to the people? Is the PM not supposed to give an account of what he has done in the last five years?" Sharma questioned.

Sharma said the PM should apologise for not fulfilling the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign.

He also alleged that PM and the BJP were resorting to emotional pleas in their campaign.

"They are playing with the emotions of people. It is a matter of shame. For the first time in the history of this country, the PM is using the armed forces for a partisan political agenda. He should be condemned for it," he alleged.

"The Indian Army does not belong to the Narendra Modi government. It belongs to the people and nation. They have insulted the martyrdom and sacrifice of our soldiers," he added.

He said the BJP need not give lessons to the Congress on fighting terrorism as the country's oldest party had lost two prime ministers - Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi- in this fight. KALABURGI: Opposition Leader and sitting Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday exuded confidence that he will win the elections and accused the BJP of building hype around its candidate Umesh Jadhav in the reserved Gulbarga parliamentary constituency.

"BJP is creating a fake hype around Jadhav winning the Gulbarga reserved seat," he told PTI in an exclusive interview at Wadi where he stopped over for lunch at the house of a Sufi priest. Kharge said despite the alleged use of money power, he would win the elections as people know him for the past 50 years and development works he had undertaken so far.

"The elections are not at all tough. This hype has been created by the RSS and BJP leaders. I am going to win the election. People here know me for the past 50 years. They know the work I did - whether it is setting up central university, ESI hospital, dental and medical colleges or skill development centres. So, such hype against me will not work," he said.

The 77-year-old Congress leader is seeking people's mandate for the 12th time.

Kharge's main rival is former Congress MLA Jadhav, who recently joined the BJP.

Asked why the BJP and the RSS are creating such a hype, Kharge said the Prime Minister and BJP President Amit Shah are "afraid" of his performance in this region. Replying to a query, Kharge said the switch over of Mallikaiah Guttedar and three other leaders including Jadhav to BJP, will not have any impact on his poll prospects.