New Delhi: Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election results, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday stated that the BJP’s claims of a significant welcome after events of the past three to four years were false. He further noted that the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance received overwhelming support and assured a stable and responsible government for the Union Territory.
“Ultimately, in a democracy, what matters is what the people want. In J&K, despite the BJP’s claim of widespread support following recent events, that is not true. We’ve seen overwhelming reaffirmation of support for the NC-Congress alliance. We will form a stable and responsible government. The demand for statehood will only intensify,” said Tharoor. Commenting on the Haryana Assembly election results, the Congress MP expressed surprise at the outcome and emphasised the need for the party to evaluate its performance.
“As far as Haryana is concerned, the results were unexpected. For years, we’ve heard how dissatisfied the people were with BJP rule and how eager they were for our return. We need to analyse what went wrong and where our expectations fell short. We were expecting 20 more seats. Exit polls do not always reflect the true will of the people. In a democracy, the voters’ decisions are reflected in the ballot paper or EVMs,” said Tharoor.
The Congress is expected to finish a distant second in the Haryana assembly polls, projected to win 37 seats, while the BJP is set to secure 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) led the alliance to victory, winning 42 seats in Tuesday’s results, while Congress secured only six seats. Ninety seats were contested in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, with the BJP winning 29 seats.
