The Congress on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his criticism of the party's performance in the MLC elections, asking him to stop “trolling and sermonising” and introspect over the BJP's defeat in both seats in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the results reflected public discontent with the Centre's policies, citing electoral outcomes in Varanasi, Nagpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj and Patna.
“The Prime Minister needs to introspect, but instead, he's sermonising others! Before counting Congress's seats, I wish he'd also reflect on why the BJP lost both seats in his own parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, and how Congress managed to defeat the BJP in RSS's stronghold of Nagpur?” Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.
Accusing the Prime Minister of ignoring pressing economic concerns, Ramesh said families were struggling with inflation, young people were facing unemployment and private investment had stalled.
“Drop the arrogance and reflect on these issues,” he said, adding that voters had passed a “no-confidence motion” against the Prime Minister's policies.
The Congress's remarks came a day after Modi taunted the party over its poor showing in the MLC elections, which were conducted using paper ballots, a key demand of opposition parties campaigning against electronic voting machines (EVMs).
On Wednesday, the Congress challenged Modi to back his confidence in the BJP's electoral strength with action, urging him to commit to conducting all future Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections through ballot papers if he believed EVMs did not influence results.
The BJP and its NDA allies won 16 of the 28 seats in legislative council elections held across four states. The Congress won one seat, while the Samajwadi Party secured five in Uttar Pradesh, including two in Varanasi.
(With inputs from PTI)