‘They are good at…’: Shashi Tharoor's big praise for Modi, Shah after Bengal win

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah for Bharatiya Janata Party's big win in West Bengal and Assam, saying that they are “very good at conducting elections”. Reacting to Congress' win in Kerala, Shashi Tharoor, who is an MP from the state, said that the party needs to learn what went right in Kerala and understand how that can be replicated at other places too. (File Photo/ANI)The BJP swept the West Bengal assembly polls, winning 206 seats out of 294, ending Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule. This is the first win the party has registered in Bengal since independence. Hailing the work the BJP put behind winning the elections, Tharoor said that the party has “strong organisational strength” and that there is a lot to learn from them. “They (PM Modi and HM Amit Shah) have done a good job in Bengal and Assam and that's partially because they are very good at conducting elections. They are professionally organised. They have strong organisational strength. They put a lot of resources, including financial resources, into their campaign,” Tharoor told news agency ANI. “There are things that all of us can learn from that. I would only hope that their message will be one of uniting Indians and not dividing them,” he added. Track live updates of election results here In West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost from Bhabanipur to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari. While praising the BJP, Tharoor also asked his own party, Congress, to do some “very serious introspection” after its return to power in Kerala by upending the Left rule in the state. Also read: Woman in male-dominated field, how Mamata Banerjee lost Bengal to ‘outsider’ BJP Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) scored major win in Kerala in assembly polls this year. While Congress won 63 out of 140 seats, its ally Indian Union Muslim League won 22, giving a comfortable victory to their alliance. Reacting to Congress' win in Kerala, Tharoor, who is an MP from the state, said that the party needs to learn what went right in Kerala and understand how that can be replicated at other places too. “I think the party will have to do some very serious introspection, no doubt about it. We've said this before, and today we have a very good example of what worked right,” Tharoor said. “If we can get it right in Kerala, what can we do to get it right elsewhere? That is a lesson the Congress party should learn,” he added. Assembly elections in Kerala were held in single phase on April 9 and the results were declared on May 4. While Community Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front failed to retain power in the state, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan won from Dharmadam seat. Nikita Sharma is a Senior Content Producer with Hindustan Times. She is a Delhi-based digital journalist with five years of experience writing and editing news stories across beats including crime, politics, tech, trends and much more, both national and international. At Hindustan Times, she is part of the news team and focuses on breaking news, keeping a track of what is happening where, and chasing ever-developing news stories. She has a penchant for covering crime, geopolitics, and Indian politics with a keen eye for stories often overlooked in the daily news cycle. At Hindustan Times, she has extensively covered several key events including the US Presidential elections, Air India plane crash, Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, US’ tariff war, and others. As a Delhi aficionado, she particularly enjoys roaming and writing about the national capital — its heritage, food, art and culture, and the many problems that come with it — the pollution, waterlogging, traffic, and more. Nikita did her Bachelor in Journalism and Mass Communication from GGSIPU and started working as a digital journalist in 2021. During her first stint, she covered hyperlocal news at a Delhi-based newsroom, writing and editing stories on builder-buyer conflicts, civic issues such as potholes, waterlogging, lack of facilities at hospitals in Delhi, crippling of the city during peak monsoon season. She also wrote features covering Delhi’s art exhibitions, heritage walks, artist profiles, museums, classical Hindustani music concerts and dance shows. She entered mainstream news in 2023 and has previously worked at NDTV.Read More