Chandigarh, May 17 (PTI) In a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday thanked him for acknowledging that the BJP is set to retain power for a third straight term.

Shekhawat was referring to Kejriwal's claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retire in September 2025 and appoint Amit Shah as his successor.

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"If the INDIA bloc would have been winning (the Lok Sabha elections), Kejriwal, who holds a senior position in the bloc, would have never made such statements," he said, adding that these claims of the Delhi CM are just "figment of his fertile imagination and aimed at creating confusion".

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said he wants to thank Kejriwal for acknowledging that the BJP will win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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He said the INDIA bloc leaders were so confused and panic-stricken that they were not even able to conceive a uniform lie.

While Rahul Gandhi said the BJP would win no more than 150 seats, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge estimated it wouldn't secure more than 200 seats, and Kejriwal suggested it wouldn't exceed 220 seats, Shekhawat said.

"This all betrays their frustration over what is more than clear to them that the BJP is set to return to power with a thumping and record-breaking majority", the union minister said.

"It is a matter of just two weeks when INDIA bloc's confusion and misconceptions will be finally cleared and Narendra Modi will again become the prime minister for another five years," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)