"Congress should look into themselves, they aren't getting candidates," he said (File)
As Uttarakhand braces for polling on April 19, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took a swipe at Congress and said that the grand old party will need only a small van to accommodate all of their MPs as the BJP will retain all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand.
"They (Congress) should look into themselves, they aren't getting candidates who can contest in Uttarakhand. Last time, they needed a bus (to accommodate MPs), this time they'll need a small van only," said Mr Dhami while reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claims of BJP barely crossing 180 seats mark in the Lok Sabha polls.
Mr Dhami reached Rishikesh on Wednesday to look after the arrangements for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally scheduled for Thursday. He also held a meeting with party workers there.
Further talking about PM's rally, Mr Dhami said, "It will be a historic rally, see how much people are excited. Whenever PM Modi has asked anything from the people of the country, people have given him. Last time he asked for 300 plus and this time 400 plus, people will give it this time also."
Rishikesh comes under the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat and BJP has fielded Trivendra Singh Rawat as its candidate.
Earlier, speaking to news agency ANI, Mr Rawat said that his party may not win 400 seats in the general elections but will come close to its goal.
"We may not win 400 seats, as we have quoted, but will surely go up to 389, 399 or even 404 seats in the upcoming general elections," he said.
Notably, among the 543 Lok Sabha seats, Uttarakhand contributes five seats to the 543-member Lok Sabha. BJP has fielded Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Anil Baluni, Ajay Tamta, Ajay Bhatt, and Trivendra Singh Rawat from the state.
The voting for the state of Uttarakhand will be held in a single phase on April 19.
Uttarakhand has been a hotly contested terrain for the BJP and Congress. Earlier in the 2014 and 2019 mega elections, the ruling BJP-led NDA clinched victory across all Lok Sabha constituencies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)