On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his first event in Varanasi after the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress criticized him. They said the voters in his constituency showed no confidence in him because he narrowly defeated his Congress opponent after trailing behind in several rounds of counting. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also raised nine questions to the prime minister about various issues affecting his constituency. Ramesh specifically questioned why the river Ganga remains polluted despite the government spending ₹20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.