''We reject Modi likening himself to Nehru on gaining third term in office,'' says P Chidambaram

Chennai: Congress leader and former union minister P Chidambaram on Friday rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi likening his third consecutive term in office to the monumental record set by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Modi, who is set to take charge as prime minister for a third term, has compared himself with Nehru, Chidambaram said. The BJP under Modi obtained 282 seats (in 2014), 303 (in 2019), and now obtained 240 seats (32 below the halfway mark), he said.

But Nehru's Congress secured 361 seats, 374 and 364 seats, respectively he pointed out. "We reject Modi comparing himself with Nehru. People will also reject it," Chidambaram told reporters here.

In his victory speech, Modi had said that "after 1962, for the first time, a government has comeback to power for the third time after being in power twice back-to-back." Speaking about the exit polls, Chidambaram said the people were fooled through the projections, which were proved false by the election results.

"No one stood outside the polling booth to ask for the trends but suddenly they claimed through their survey that BJP would win 350 seats or more. How did they all arrive at this number? The reason is it was manufactured in a place and photostat copies were circulated to others," he claimed.

He thanked the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for ensuring a resounding victory to the INDIA alliance.