Indian Overseas Congress Chairman of Sam Pitroda has expressed confidence that the Congress and INDIA bloc will do well in the Lok Sabha elections and said that Indian voters have a tendency to surprise.
"Let's wait for two months and we will know (results of Lok Sabha polls). There is no need to predict right now what will happen. Indian voters have a tendency to surprise people. Look what happened to Mrs (Indira) Gandhi when she declared an Emergency. She was thrown out and then she was put back in. So don't underestimate the intelligence of Indian voters," Mr Pitroda told ANI.
"If Indian voters feel they want to live in a democratic country, they want to live in a non-dictatorial environment, they want institutions to work, they want freedom, flexibility, they want to practice religion they like, they want to marry the one they want to, they want jobs to be created, they want inflation to be controlled, they will vote accordingly. So have some faith in Indian voters and not in pollsters," he added.
He was responding to a question about the challenges faced by Congress, especially in north India.
Mr Pitroda, a former advisor to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who is considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, said Congress leaders are working hard to put up a good fight in the Lok Sabha polls.
"I would say INDIA alliance is doing a reasonably good job. Mr Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and many others in the Congress party are working hard," he said.
Mr Pitroda said the Congress manifesto released earlier this month is "a perfect manifesto" for the people of the country.
"Look at the quality of the manifesto. Under the leadership of P Chidambaram, the manifesto was prepared. It is a good manifesto according to me but some people say it is not a good manifesto, it is a Communist manifesto. It depends on their perception. I don't think it is a Communist manifesto, it is humanistic. It is the right kind of values that Congress stands for. It is a perfect manifesto for the people of India," he said.
Mr Pitroda, a technocrat, served as Chairman of Telecom Commission and headed India's National Knowledge Commission (2005-2009.)
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases, starting April 19. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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