Mumbai: Amid claims of the Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal that Narendra Modi would pass on the mantle to Amit Shah next year after he turns 75, if at all NDA comes to power, the Congress said that the wait would not be that long as a new government and prime minister would be in place on 4 June.
Senior Congress leader and former union minister Shashi Tharoor said that Kejriwal was right to point this contradiction out.
“If Modi turns 75 in September 2025, according to his official records...in September 2025 are we going to see a change of prime minister or will there be an exception for one man? But in any case, we don't have to wait till September 2025, there will be a change of prime minister on 4 June 2024,” Tharoor told reporters in Mumbai on Sunday.
“In fact, we saw two statements one after the other, one is Shah saying Modi insists that everyone should step down at 75, then the next day we saw Shah saying Modi will continue till 2029,” he said.
“Modi used to refer to former prime minister Manmohan Singh as Maun-mohan Singh…every year Dr Singh used to address three to four press conferences and on every trip abroad, we used to speak to the media on board the flight on a wide range of issues. On the contrary Modi has not addressed a single press conference in the last 10 years. However, now he is giving scripted interviews,” said Tharoor, who was accompanied by Maharashtra Congress Working President Naseem Khan, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar and chief spokesperson Atul Londhe.
Tharoor also said that the Congress in Maharashtra is working in coordination with allies - Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
On the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. allies and coalition governments, he said: “Dr Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had successfully run coalition governments.”
Published 12 May 2024, 12:58 IST