INDIA bloc’s immediate task is to win 2024 Lok Sabha elections: Chidambaram

P. Chidambaram discusses BJP's victory in 3 States and Congress' unexpected defeat in Chhattisgarh & Rajasthan ahead of 2024 LS polls.

Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has termed the party’s debacle in the recently held Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly polls as "unexpected" and "a matter of worry".

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Mr. Chidambaram on December 17 said the BJP fights every election "as if it is the last battle" and that is what Opposition parties "must realise".

"BJP’s victory in three States — Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — is a major boost for the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The defeat of the Congress in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan was unexpected. The results are worrying and I believe the party’s leadership will address the weaknesses," the former Union Finance Minister said.

The veteran leader, however, said the party’s 40% vote share in the four big states — Rajasthan, M.P., Chhattisgarh and Telangana — where Assembly elections were held recently "seems to be intact".

Mr. Chidambaram said he is hopeful that the party’s vote share might increase up to 45% ahead of the Lok Sabha polls by addressing issues such as last-mile campaign, booth management and bringing the dormant voter to the polling station on election day.

In the recently held elections, the BJP defeated the Congress in all the three States where the two were in a face-to-face fight, wresting control of both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and retaining power in Madhya Pradesh. The only consolation for the Congress was in Telangana where it pushed the BJP to the third place.

Expressing concern on BJP’s "polarisation, veiled anti-Muslim and anti-Christian propaganda and hyper-nationalism", the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said the party must find a befitting response to it.