Lok Sabha polls a contest between ‘brand Modi’ and ‘brand virodhi’: BJP’s Ajay Alok

New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) The Lok Sabha elections are a contest between “brand Modi” and “brand virodhi”, making it virtually a presidential contest that leaves no doubt about who will win given the emotional connect people have with Narendra Modi, BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok has said.

The prime minister’s declared target of 370 seats will be helped by a record tally in southern states and West Bengal, Alok told PTI, giving an explicit breakdown of seats the BJP will win in states that have traditionally not been its strongholds.

He said the party will win seven-eight seats in Tamil Nadu, is “1,000 per cent sure” to bag over eight in Telangana, four in Andhra Pradesh and a few in Kerala, an astounding claim as the BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat in the Left and Congress dominated state. It currently has no seat in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and has four in Telangana.

Asked if his projection was too optimistic about a state like Tamil Nadu, an achilles heel for the BJP, he said, “Absolutely not. The inert Hindutva feeling has risen among people. Dravidian politics has its limit.”

He said a big impact of the decade-long tenure of Modi has been a resurgent pride among Hindus in their faith.

“People no longer feel embarrassed in flaunting their Hindu identity,” he said.

However, being Hindu and being Indian is the same, he added, while also underlining the impetus to the country’s growth and development during Modi’s tenure.

Alok, a visible face of the BJP on the broadcast news, said of his home state Bihar that even there it is the brand equity of Modi which will ensure a sweep by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

With JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar back into the NDA fold, he answered in the negative when asked if “brand Nitish” will remain strong in the state during the polls.

“This election is going the way of either you are with Modi or you are against Modi. In this Nitish and others will act as an add-on but cannot become a brand,” Alok, who began his political innings from the BJP and then joined the JD(U) before returning to the party.

India may not have the presidential form of government but people often vote on these lines as they have historically rallied around a leader during elections.

“Today it is either ‘brand Modi’ or ‘brand virodhi’. There are different rivals (virodhi) in different states. But ‘brand Modi’ is present everywhere,” Alok, who quit a government job to join politics and is a medical doctor, said.

Asked which states the BJP expects to get the required bump in tally to reach its target of 370 seats, he said West Bengal will be a big surprise and its number may even double from the current 18. Its numbers will go up in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha besides in south India, he added.

To questions about the main opposition party, he said the Congress is “terminally ill” as doctors “treating” it are not qualified doctors. They need to change their doctors, Alok said.

Someone like Shashi Tharoor will go back to the US to pursue Ph.D after the polls, he said, suggesting that the three-term Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram may lose this time. The BJP has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the constituency.

He dismissed the suggestions that the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal may get the opposition, which has united in his support and accused the BJP of vendetta, public sympathy, saying Indians have never displayed any sympathy for those facing corruption charges.

He cited the examples of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, a convict in corruption cases, and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who lost power after his government was embroiled in the allegations of corruption in the Bofors deal.

When the BJP was in the opposition, it would gather evidence of corruption in deals during the UPA government and courts often ordered probe but the current opposition has failed to produce any evidence against the Modi dispensation, he said.

The BJP government in Karnataka was accused of corruption by the Congress with the “40 per cent sarkara” jibe but it has been able to produce no evidence after coming to power.

The BJP spokesperson dubbed Kejriwal a mix of Yadav and gangster-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin, saying he has on the one hand brought in political spotlight an “urbanised Rabri Devi”, a reference to his wife Sunita Kejriwal, and has on the other decided to run his government from jail.

The Modi government has an “intolerance” for corruption and its campaign against the corrupt will continue, he said.