Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him a man of “tremendous vigour and dynamism” and gave credit to him for the BJP’s victory in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a man of tremendous vigour and dynamism and has done some things which are very impressive, especially politically. We did not expect him to win with such great margins but he did,” said Tharoor while interacting with the media at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Mr Tharoor further said that he was surprised over the political analysts describing the UP poll results as a “foregone conclusion”, and said that very few predicted BJP’s victory until the exit polls came out.
“Until the exit polls came out there was no question in my mind that most of the people were expecting a very, very close fight, and some were saying anecdotally that Samajwadi Party was ahead,” he said.
The Congress leader said, “The Indian voter has the capacity to surprise, and one day, they will also surprise the BJP. But right now they have given the BJP what they wanted.”
“Many people had not expected that BJP will come in power once again with such a majority. Samajwadi Party’s (SP) seats have increased and hence they will prove to be a good opposition,” added the Congress leader.
On Congress’ performance in the UP Assembly elections he said that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did remarkable and energetic campaigning for the party, and “from my point of view, I don’t think that the Congress per se can be faulted on the grounds of one person’s campaigning.”
“You would have seen her everywhere, including getting arrested a couple of times by the Uttar Pradesh Police. You have seen her very much on the spot and running through the state,” said the Congress leader.
“I think the issues are rather larger for the party as well as for party viability in some states where our presence has been systematically going down over the last 30 years,” he said.
