'Ab ki baar 400 paar' happened but in another country: Tharoor's dig at BJP after UK polls

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor took a swipe at the BJP on Friday (July 5) after the Labour Party in the UK secured a landslide victory in the general elections there, saying "ab ki baar, 400 paar" finally happened but in another country.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, BJP leaders had predicted that the party would get more than 370 seats while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would get over 400.

In the polls that concluded last month, the BJP won 240 seats and fell short of a majority but the NDA secured the mandate with 293 seats.

The Congress bagged 99 seats while the INDIA bloc got 234. Following the polls, two Independent MPs pledged support to the Congress, taking the INDIA bloc's tally to 236.

In a post on X, Tharoor said, “Finally ‘ab ki baar 400 paar’ happened -- but in another country!”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that, amid the tectonic transition in the UK, it was worth recalling the political events that unfolded in India a month ago.

“A self-declared non-biological person did not get elected by his party MPs as their leader but instead got himself anointed as the leader of an alliance. A circumvention of all parliamentary norms, all in a vain attempt to save face after being hugely diminished and damaged after the elections, and suffering a decisive personal, political and moral defeat,” Ramesh said.

Keir Starmer on Friday became the UK’s new prime minister and vowed to rebuild Britain, hours after his Labour Party secured a landslide victory in a general election in which the weary voters inflicted a “sobering verdict” on Rishi Sunak-led Conservatives.

The Labour Party secured 412 seats in the 650-member House of Commons, up 211 from the 2019 elections. Sunak's Conservatives won just 121 seats. While the Labour had a vote share of 33.7 per cent the Conservatives had 23.7 per cent.

(With agency inputs)