LS polls 'not fair' but despite that, INDIA bloc will get majority: Ramesh

The Lok Sabha polls are "not fair" with opposition parties being targeted but despite that, the INDIA bloc will get a clear majority in the elections due to the public response to its "five nyay, 25 guarantees", senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.

He also said the people of the country will "decisively reject" all attempts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the elections "unfree and unfair". There is a strong undercurrent of "enough of das saal anyay kaal" (10 years of injustice), the Congress general secretary said.

Ramesh also hit out at Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over their recent remarks about the country being a "new India", which strikes inside enemy territory, saying these are "diversionary tactics" aimed at taking the focus away from the Congress' "real narrative" of "paanch nyay, pachees guarantees" and the manifesto.

Asked about the fairness of the polls, Ramesh said, "This election is not fair with action being taken against opposition parties but despite this, we believe that the INDIA 'janbandhan' will get a clear mandate because of the public response to 'paanch nyay, pachees guarantees' of the Congress and its allies which reflect the needs of the people."

His remarks came a day after it released its manifesto, focusing on five "pillars of justice" and 25 guarantees under those, at the party headquarters in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Right to apprenticeship, a legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nationwide caste census and scrapping of the Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha election manifesto.

In an interview with PTI last week, Ramesh had said the INDIA bloc was intact despite Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's "somersault" and asserted that the opposition would unitedly cross the halfway mark of 272 in the elections to oust the BJP from power.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will be held between April 19 and June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.