A day after pollsters' exit poll numbers projected a victory for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections with over 370 seats, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed them to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "fantasy poll".
"It is not exit poll, it is Modi media poll. It is his fantasy poll," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, on a question over how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Rahul referred to late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala's "295" track.
He said, "Sidhu Moose Wala ka song suna hai aapne? 295?" (Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'?) and nodded his head over the reporters' response.
The exit poll projections, which were rolled out after the final phase of voting for the general elections on Saturday, predicted close to over 370 seats for the BJP-led NDA, indicating a third straight term for the Modi government.
Notably, Today's Chanakya exit poll agency and India Today-Axis My India exit poll projected that the BJP might hit the 400 milestone, and restricted the INDIA bloc to over 100 seats.
INDIA bloc, on the other hand, though projected better than the last time, still remained behind with predictions of 150-160 seats.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, following a meeting of the INDIA bloc parties, said on Saturday that the Opposition grouping will win at least 295 seats.
Several other leaders of the grouping including Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, also reiterated on the 295 figure predicted by Kharge.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri termed Kharge's prediction as 'Mungerilal ke sunehre sapne' (day dreaming). "Congress is hopeful of getting 300 seats when they are fighting 328 seats. Even if their strike rate is 80%, then also they won't get 300 seats," Puri said.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also was quick to react on the exit poll projections on Saturday and said that the "actual results will be very different".
"The man whose exit is certain on June 4th has had these exit polls orchestrated. The INDIA Janbandhan will definitely get a minimum of 295 seats, which is a clear and decisive majority. The outgoing Prime Minister can remain smug for three days in the meanwhile," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"These are all psychological games he is masterminding but the ACTUAL results will be very different," he added.
REACTIONS TO RAHUL'S EXIT POLL REMARK
Psephologist and 'Jan ki Baat' founder Pradeep Bhandari, while reacting to Rahul Gandhi's remark over exit polls, said that the Congress leader is perhaps "suffering a selective memory loss due to political compulsions".
Bhandari cited the example of Congress leaders' excitement during the exit polls for Telangana Assembly elections, where the projections also suggested the grand old party's win.
"Sadly, when the Exit Polls are not in your favour - it is an insult to thousands of professionals who work hard on the ground in this scorching heat," the psephologist added.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'fantasy poll' remark and said, "I saw Rahul Gandhi extremely angry today...Why are you so frustrated Rahul Gandhi? When you said that nobody would participate in Exit Polls, it became clear that you have lost."
Tiwari said that Rahul's frustration shows that he can never walk on a positive path or be the people's choice.
BJP leader Shaina NC also took a jibe at Rahul, saying that a person "who lives in fantasy world will speak about fantasy exit poll only".
"Now it is time for Rahul Gandhi to go on a fantasy holiday because he does not know how exit polls are formed... I want to tell INDI Alliance that it is good to be hopeful but read the writing on the wall... You cannot take away blessings that the people have given to PM Modi," she told news agency ANI.
She said no matter how many names the Opposition bloc might take, "there is only one prime minister and that is PM Modi".
(With agency inputs)
