This was not the seat to be lost: Nirmala Sitharaman on Chandigarh defeat

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, July 14

Not mincing words over the BJP’s defeat in the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, senior party leader and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said “this was not the seat to be lost.”

Addressing a meeting of the BJP’s executive at the party’s office in Sector 33, the minister admitted that the party was confident of winning the Chandigarh seat, which it had won for two terms.

“Please all pardon me, but this was not the seat to be lost by the BJP. It pained me. May be God’s grace was perhaps less on us as there was no lack in hard work either by the party or the candidate,” said the minister. She, however, said, “Chandigarh is not to be lost in the coming days. We have to win again. The BJP will wrest the seat. I will be here, if you want me to.”

She shared during the meeting, inputs regarding the Lok Sabha election were taken and an analysis was done. A resolution was also passed. The party leaders said they were sure of performing well in the next Municipal Corporation election. Slams Congress for creating ‘fake narratives’

Slamming the Congress, the Finance Minister said the party could not win even 100 seats in the third consecutive Lok Sabha elections.

Sitharaman, who also held a meeting with traders to understand their issues, said the Congress could not win even a single seat in 14 states. Thirteen parties under the INDIA bloc could win only 232 seats while the BJP by its own won 242 seats.

“But they are celebrating as if they have won the elections. In the past 10 Lok Sabha elections from 1984 to 2024, the Congress could not cross even the 250 mark. But, they have this artificial confidence,” she said. Sitharaman felt the Opposition did not contest this election in a fair manner. They created fake narratives. The impact of these narratives was so on the ground that even though you tried to dispel people’s fears, it’s already late.

She said statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari were twisted by the Opposition on several issues and they tried to create a fake narrative. She suggested the BJP should make people aware of the facts to counter these fake narratives.

Rahul Gandhi abused the RSS and had to apologise in the court. The Congress said there was corruption in Rafale deal, and they had to again apologise in the court. But, they are shameless, she added. Former city MP Kirron Kher said she would stay put in Chandigarh and the BJP would perform well in future.

City BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra said, “The party lost by a small margin. Now, we have to make our future course strong and win all coming elections.” Senior BJP leader Sanjay Tandon said the party was going to achieve more milestones in the third term.