Nothing PM Says Ever An Exaggeration, BJP Getting 370 Seats A Conservative Estimate: Hardeep Puri

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forecast of the BJP winning 370 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a conservative estimate as nothing said by him is ever an exaggeration.

In an interview with PTI, Puri also said that the prime minister's statements on target dates for implementation of schemes are invariably a result of deep and thorough research and are based on inputs he gets from many people. He then puts an overall political stamp on it, he minister said.

"In 2014, we had a miserable failure on the biofuel blending front and in previous 10 years, we were not able to achieve even 1.5 per cent biofuel blending in 10 of our states and union territories. "When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came and said that we are going to change this. We can do 10 per cent blending by November 2022 and 20 per cent blending by 2030. We achieved the 10 per cent target five months before the time," he said.

Nothing the prime minister says is ever an exaggeration, the Union housing and Urban affairs minister said. Earlier this month, Modi expressed confidence that the NDA will get more than 400 seats, with the BJP wining at least 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April-May.

The prime minister said he was convinced that the opposition parties have lost the courage to contest elections and resolved to stay on the opposition benches for a long time. Opposition parties have formed the INDIA bloc to challenge the BJP in the general elections.

Puri, who also holds the petroleum and natural gas portfolio, said that people are benefiting from various schemes of the Modi government. Four crore houses have been sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) and PMAY (Urban), and 11 crore toilets have been constructed by the Modi government, he said.