BJP Leader Dinesh Sharma Predicts Opposition Rifts Post Lok Sabha Polls, Foresees BJP Surge in Southern States

Dinesh Sharma, a member of the Rajya Sabha, stated on Sunday that opposition parties, who are attempting to present a united front for the Lok Sabha election, will engage in conflict with one another in three months.

The BJP leader and former deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh told PTI in an interview that they will not be able to "choose even a leader of the Opposition (in the Lok Sabha) from amongst themselves" because of their bloated egos and bad performance in the election.

The Election Commission declared on Saturday that there will be seven phases to the Lok Sabha poll: April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. On June 4, there will be a vote count.

Opposition parties, according to Sharma, are not present anywhere throughout this election. According to Sharma, this election would see the decline of opposition parties and the ascent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even in the southern states.

"A few opposition parties have united in anticipation of the Lok Sabha poll. But they won't be able to choose the opposition leader from among themselves because of the bloated egos of their leaders, the MP added. The MP was recently on a trip of many southern states, including Tamil Nadu, which is home to the opposition INDIA bloc's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

To challenge the BJP in the election, a number of opposition groups, including the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress, and the Samajwadi Party (SP), formed the alliance.

Sharma claimed that "Modi phobia" was the reason behind their unity and expressed confidence that the BJP and its allies would secure more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that there will be many exciting opportunities during his third term.

Sharma also chastised Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the SP, for drawing parallels between Prime Minister Modi and Adolf Hitler.

"The real Hitler was the one who opened fire on 'karsevaks' in Ayodhya, and during whose time, people who talked about the Ram temple (in Ayodhya) were jailed," Sharma reportedly stated, seemingly alluding to the regime of late SP founder Mulyam Singh Yadav.

"If they love Hitler so much, then they should also remember the Emergency imposed by their ally Congress and the anti-Sikh riots," he stated.

The Rajya Sabha member intensified his criticism of the opposition, claiming that even those who disagree with Lord Ram and Sanatan Dharma are being forced to chant "Ram Ram" because it is election season.

The BJP leader claimed, "SP leaders who opened fire on Ram devotees are now building a temple in Etawah." Safai, in the Uttar Pradeshn district of Etawah, is the hometown of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Sharma made the following apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress: "Nowadays, a former Congress president puts sandalwood powder on his forehead, but wonders why people are looking up to Modi." The meeting of the Congress and the SP in Uttar Pradesh for the general election was also described by him as a "meeting of two 'parivarvadi (dynastic)' parties".

This time, Sharma said, the BJP will do "very well" in the southern states.

"The BJP will win more seats this time around compared to the last election because of its alliance with the JD-S (Janata Dal (Secular)), and there is resentment towards the Congress in Karnataka." If the Congress is able to secure even one seat there, it will be quite unexpected, the speaker stated.

Regarding Tamil Nadu and the political initiatives of Prime Minister Modi there, Sharma remarked, "I had camped for quite some time, and I felt that the BJP is going to bag a huge number of votes on its own." Up till March 19, Modi is visiting five southern states: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. His trip of the area is a part of the BJP's concerted effort to win the Lok Sabha election in the south.

The five states make up 130 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the nation, plus the one constituency union territory of Puducherry.

"There is a tsunami of opposition against the incumbent in Andhra Pradesh (the YSR Congress Party). The TDP-BJP partnership will work well. The Christian population in Kerala has become more drawn to the BJP. In summary, I would argue that the opposition will be seen as setting in the south, while the BJP will see its dawning," he continued.

On May 13, Andhra Pradesh will hold both general elections and a legislative assembly concurrently.

In an attempt to maintain their existence, opportunistic opposition groups are creating mismatched partnerships with one another and abusing one another. "Those who threatened to put each other in jail are giving each other hugs today," he remarked.

"They had no choice but to unite because of their antipathy toward Modi. Three months from now, the parties that are joining together will be seen battling amongst themselves, he said.

Voting in all stages of the general election will take place in Uttar Pradesh, a state that has 80 representatives in the Lower House of Parliament. The BJP and Apna Dal (Sonelal), its allies, secured 64 seats in 2019 (62 and 2, respectively). The Congress gained one seat while the SP-Bahujan Samaj Party coalition secured fifteen.

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