46 per cent people see Rahul Gandhi as an alternative to Narendra Modi: Survey

Congress president Rahul Gandhi was chosen by 46 per cent people while eight per cent people favoured West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a potential alternative to Narendra Modi in 2019 elections, according to the India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) Survey.

As per the MOTN survey released on Sunday, Narendra Modi, however, remained the first choice of the nation with 49 per cent people favouring him for the prime minister’s post as opposed to Gandhi’s 27 per cent.

If the elections are held today, the survey claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party would fall short of the majority, while the Congress would make significant gains.

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Just seven months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the survey was conducted taking into account three possible scenarios.

If the allies of the UPA and the NDA remains same, the UPA is predicted to get just 122 seats against the NDA’s 281. Others win 140 seats.

However, if the UPA is joined by major regional parties – the BSP, the SP and the TMC – it is expected to as many as 224 seats trailing just four behind the NDA’s 228. In this scenario, others’ tally drops to 91 seats.

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In the third scenario, if the BJP is joined by the new alliance partners in South – Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK and Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress – it is expected to garner as many as 255 seats while the Congress-led UPA is likely to get 242 seats. However, if Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and KCR’s TRS join hands with the NDA, its tally would cross the majority mark and reach 281.