PM Modi's big prediction for South: 'Vote share, seats are going to increase'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is confident that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) vote share will go up in Southern India, a region where the saffron party has struggled to make inroads except for Karnataka. In this election, the BJP put unprecedented efforts in Tamil Nadu, the fifth largest state in terms of Lok Sabha seats.  

"You see Telangana, where our vote share has doubled. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the South. The BJP has the highest number of MPs. I believe that in 2024 (the Lok Sabha elections), the vote share is going to increase compared to the previous elections. Seats will also increase," he said in an interview with the Asianet News Network.

In the last election in Tamil Nadu, the BJP allied with the AIADMK. The party contested 5 seats, but could not win any and recorded merely a 3.66 per cent vote share. This time, the BJP is contesting 23 seats and hoping to win anywhere between 3-5 seats. In Telangana, the BJP had won 4 seats in 2019.  

The Prime Minister said the BJP is in power in Puducherry and its MPs won from Andaman and Nicobar. "Secondly, the identity of the governments in the South - whether it is Congress, the LDF (Left Democratic Front), or the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)--what is their identity in all places? Today we (BJP) are in power in Puducherry, which is in the south. It should be known, we are in government. And our MPs win from Andaman and Nicobar, where most of our south Indian and Bengali brothers live."

PM Modi then turned to corruption in cooperative banks in Kerala, and said action would be taken against wrongdoers. "Now, what is the style of their governments? Theirs are completely family-run governments, and there is rampant corruption. Now you see what the situation is in the south," PM Modi said.

He said corruption in cooperative banks is "the biggest crime against a poor man; it cannot be forgiven". "Poor families keep their money in cooperative banks, put in societies hoping to get good returns. He feels that he would keep his hard-earned money for his daughter's marriage--it's the money of fishermen, farmers, and labourers."

"There are around 300 cooperative banks that are completely run by lefties. And about one lakh crore rupees of common and poor people are lying there. Their operators used this money to buy properties. We have just attached around Rs 90 crore and I'm currently taking legal advice on how to return this money to people who kept their money in the bank. I requested ED to start returning their money, and attaching the properties of those who were looting these people," he said.

"We have returned Rs 17,000 crore of seized money to whoever it was. This is not an election issue," the prime minister added. When asked about Kerala, PM Modi said that from the time of the BJP and Jana Sangh, "we want to serve in every part of the country. Work where there is political benefit, and don't where it isn't profitable--these are not our principles."

"Jana Sangh's biggest national convention was held in Kerala in 1967. For us, Kerala is not only a field to come into power. Kerala is also similar to other areas we serve, and we serve there with equal dedication. Hundreds of our workers were gunned down, and political murders were committed. Even today, we work there with the intention of serving Maa Bharti, and left cadres were convicted by courts for the murder of our people; many of them are in jail. Despite that, be it Kutch, Guwahati, Kashmir, or Kanyakumari, every corner of the country is ours," he said.

Earlier, political strategist Prashant Kishor predicted that BJP's vote share will increase in Tamil Nadu and it may emerge as the first or second largest party in Telangana.