Maharashtra state chief minister Eknath Shinde said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's predictions on the 2014 and 2019 poll results had proved wrong and the next elections will not be an exception. Lok Sabha elections are due in 2024, and the Maharashtra Assembly polls are also due in the later part of next year.
After the Karnataka Assembly election results last month, in which the Congress defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and returned to power, the NCP chief had said the poll results were an indication of the scenario after next year’s Lok Sabha elections. On Wednesday, Pawar claimed in a press conference in Aurangabad that there is currently an anti-BJP wave and people of the country want a change considering the results of the Karnataka Assembly polls.
Reacting to Pawar's criticism of the BJP, CM Shinde said, All his (poll) predictions have gone wrong and this has been seen in 2014 and 2019. Henceforth as well, all his predictions will prove wrong. Fadnavis said when more than 300 MPs were getting elected (from the ruling party), how could anyone say that PM Modi's popularity was decreasing.