Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav during a joint press conference, in Lucknow, Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that the grand opposition alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) was ''ahead' of the BJP in the first four phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls while accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "spreading lies" about his party's manifesto.
Speaking to the reporters here with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Kharge also accused the ruling party at the Centre of trying to "intimidate" the voters and not allowing the candidates to file nomination papers.
''In spite of the intimidation, the I.N.D.I.A. alliance is well ahead of the BJP in the first four phases....BJP is way behind us....we will form the next government at the Centre,'' the Congress president said.
He said that the ongoing election is a battle of ideology. ''On the one side are those who use religion to come to power and on the other hand are those who are fighting for the future of the poor and youth. Ours is a fight to save the Constitution,'' Kharge said.
The Congress leader also referred to the statements of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and said that the latter had talked about changing the Constitution to scrap reservation. ''Modi never contests the remarks of these leaders,'' he added.
He said that the caste census is on the top of their agenda. ''We will conduct a caste census to ascertain the social and economic status of the people,'' he added.
Kharge also said that the I.N.D.I.A. alliance would provide 10 kilogram of free ration to the poor if voted to power. ''We have already done it in Karnataka and Telangana,'' he said.
Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP would not be able to win more than 140 seats in the LS polls. He also appealed to the people not to "waste" their votes by supporting the BSP, which, he said, is not in the fight.