'Chowkidar Chor Hai' campaign backfired: Anil Shastri

Congress leader Anil Shastri quoted that the excessive negative campaign against the PM and the "chowkidar chor hai" slogan, frequently used by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was not accepted by the public. He also accepted that Congress has failed to address to gauge the public mind.

New Delhi: Congress leader Anil Shastri on Friday, remarked that his party's 'negative campaign' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boomeranged.

Anil Shastri, who is the son of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, stated: "Excessive negative campaign against the Prime Minister has not gone down well with the public."

He also acknowledged that the 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' slogan, frequently used by Congress president Rahul Gandhi had backfired.

"Congress failed to address public issues. Better performance in Congress-ruled states would have yielded better results," he maintained, talking about Congress Chief Ministers who 'failed' to gauge the public pulse.

The Congress president on Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for BJP's massive win in the general elections.

Calling the results as 'people's mandate', Gandhi had said, "I had reiterated during the campaign that 'Janata Maalik hai' (people are the decision makers) and today the latter have clearly given their decision. I congratulate the PM and BJP."

Speaking to the media, here, Shastri opined that what mattered was people have decided Narendra Modi be their Prime Minister and we respect that.