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As the political parties gear up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Friday said that the opposition’s INDIA bloc is a “real challenge”, adding that the saffron party takes every election “very seriously”.
According to Pradhan, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, BJP’s agenda is to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets to serve the nation for a third 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,” the union minister told news agency PTI.
The minister also expressed his desire to contest the upcoming general elections from Odisha and requested the BJP to give him a chance. “I have already informed the party about my wish and have requested it to give me a chance,” he said.
Notably, Pradhan was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 from Odisha’s Deogarh constituency. He represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha and is currently the cabinet minister for education and skill development and entrepreneurship.
The minister, while speaking to PTI, hit out at 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.
“Those who did not fulfill their responsibilities and criticise…this is called opportunistic politics. You did not do anything,” he said.
After the Bihar government released the caste survey data on Monday, Gandhi reiterated his demands to give people rights based on their population. “The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC SC ST are 84% there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5% of India’s budget! Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
(With inputs from PTI)