Cong lost badly in LS polls due to non-performance: Govt

People cutting across caste and creed voted for Narendra Modi, says Sushma Swaraj

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government on Wednesday said Congress lost badly in the Lok Sabha election due to non-performance and because its "product" was not marketable, while BJP succeeded as its product was good and became a hit with the people.

"Let us be clear that the product should be good. If it is not, then marketing will make no impact. Our product was liked by the people because of its quality," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha.

Swaraj's remarks were a dig at Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge who had said yesterday that BJP is good at marketing and propaganda, suggesting that it was the reason for its success in the electoral battle in which Congress was led by Rahul Gandhi.

"You also did your marketing. But there was anger against your government...People accepted Narendra Modi as an alternative and the candidates (of the ruling alliance) became secondary and people cutting across caste and creed voted for Modi," she said.



She was intervening in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

Swaraj said after 1984, it is for the first time that a single party has received majority on its own. It had happened in 1980 when Congress got 300 seats and then in 1984 when it crossed the 400 mark.

"People had thought that the era of single party majority has ended. But this time, it is unique as BJP has got 282 and NDA 336...When we talked of getting 272 plus on our own, people laughed," she said.