- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
WHILE experts have predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to return to power for the third consecutive time in next year’s general elections and prime minister Narendra Modi completing a hat-trick of mandates after his overwhelming victories in the 2014 and 2019 polls, a senior minister of the government on Friday (6) said that the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) is a “real challenge” and that his party’s alliance doesn’t take electoral tests lightly.
He also said that he requested his party to allow him to contest next year’s elections from Odisha, his home state.
In an interview with the Press Trust of India, Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s education and skill development and entrepreneurship minister who currently is a member of the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the Indian parliament, said the BJP’s agenda is to ensure that Modi gets to serve the nation for a third prime ministerial term.
“I consider it (INDIA bloc) as a real challenge because the BJP and the NDA do not take any election casually. From ground workers to top leaders, everybody takes each election very seriously and the prime minister leads us from the front,” he said.
The INDIA alliance was formed by several parties opposed to Modi’s BJP in a bid to challenge the BJP-led NDA in various elections, including the national one next year.
On his wish to fight the Lok Sabha (Lower House of parliament) elections, he said, “I have already informed the party about my wish and have requested it to give me a chance. The BJP’s agenda is to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets to serve the nation for a third term.”
Pradhan has been serving as a Rajya Sabha MP since 2018 and has served in various ministerial capacities. He has also served as a member of the Lok Sabha from the now-defunct constituency of Deogarh in Odisha between 2004 and 2009.
Speaking about the women’s reservation bill, Pradhan said Modi has set an example by giving political rights to the country’s mothers and sisters.
“The (Indian National) Congress let the women’s reservation bill lapse and did not show any dedication to it during its rule. Nobody had held their hands. They had the opportunity (to get the bill passed) but they did not do it,” he said.
Pradhan attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his demand for a nationwide caste census, saying he and his “family party” should share details of the work they did for the OBCs and weaker sections in the last 75 years.
(With PTI inputs)
