Voters can give different verdict LS polls: Tharoor

Valladolid (Spain): It is important for the Congress not to be complacent after defeating the BJP in Karnataka since voters can change their behaviour between state and national elections, says Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

He cited the Congress’ poor performance in the 2019 general election after victories in assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the previous year to buttress his point. The party, the author-politician said, cannot assume that “because it worked in one state, it can work nationally”. “In 2018, we had victories in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. And yet, when the Lok Sabha elections came around in the same states, the BJP trounced us... and even in Karnataka, they left us with just one seat in the Lok Sabha,” Tharoor said on the sidelines of the recent Valladolid edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

“So if the voters can change their behaviour in a matter of months, between state elections and national elections, it is important for us to not be complacent.” The Congress won 135 seats out of 224 in the Karnataka assembly elections, leaving BJP with 66 seats in the elections held in May this year. According to the Thiruvananthapuram MP, having a “strong and effective local leadership” and emphasising on local issues helped the Congress win in Karnataka.

“The (Congress) president Kharge is himself from Karnataka, Gandhi siblings came and campaigned, but the lead was taken very much on the ground by local leaders. The emphasis on local issues, local preoccupations, economic issues, infrastructure issues in Bangalore all of these. The things that matter to voters is what the Congress focussed on,” the 67-year-old said. On the other hand, the BJP’s campaign was “very much top-down and centre-driven”. “At the local level, they were much more disempowered and so people know Mr Modi and Mr Shah are not going to come and live in Karnataka and run the government."