Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a scathing critique of governments in south India on Saturday while expressing confidence that the BJP's vote share in the south would increase in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections compared to previous polls.

In an interview with the Asianet News Network, PM Modi also addressed the alleged narrative of the BJP being a party of the upper caste.

"A narrative has been created in our country for a long time that the BJP means upper caste party. But the reality is that in the BJP, most are scheduled castes (SCs), most are scheduled tribes (STs), and most are other backward classes (OBCs). All these are, and most are OBCs in our ministry. Then they said that it’s a Bharat Urban Party. Today, the entire character of my party is such that it has the maximum number of rural people," he said.

"Then they said this character was created because the BJP is a Puraan-Panthi (or old-school) party and can't think of anything new. But today, if anyone is leading the digital movement in the world, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government. So this misconception that they are spreading is 'wrong'," the PM said.

Speaking on the BJP's electoral performance in south India, the PM said, "You see Telangana, where our vote share has doubled. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the South. The BJP has the highest number of MPs. I believe that in 2024 (the Lok Sabha elections), the vote share is going to increase compared to the previous elections. Seats will also increase."

Source : DNA India