Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Emboldened over Congress grand victory in Karnataka, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hailed the party’s performance as opening up of market of love and closure of shops of hatred, saying “nafrat ka bazaar” has closed down and “mohabbat ki dukaanein” have opened in the state.
Congress has won a clear majority in Karnataka Assembly Elections. According to the Election Commission of India, Congress has won 135 seats out of a total 224 Assembly seats and is leading in 1 constituency. The ruling BJP bagged 65 seats. JD(S) has come third winning 19 seats while others have won 4 seats.
“I thank and congratulate the people of Karnataka, party workers and leaders,” Gandhi said at a press conference here.
“I am happy we contested the Karnataka polls without using hate, bad language. We fought the polls with love. In Karnataka, ‘nafrat ka bazaar (market of hate)’ has closed down’, ‘mohabbat ki dukaanein’ (shops of love) have opened,” he said.
Meanwhile Congress on Saturday said the party’s victory in the southern state is an outcome of the collective work of party leaders. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, said the people of all communities voted for the Congress. He said the party will work towards fulfilling its election promises. “I thank the people of Karnataka for giving a huge mandate to the Congress. We will respect the mandate and uphold people’s belief in us. We will implement all the welfare schemes we have announced in our manifesto. I thank Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and also Sonia Gandhi who campaigned even when she wasn’t well,” Kharge said.Targeting the BJP, he said the people have defeated a party’s government “which had indulged in corruption.”“People of all communities voted for us. Now, we have to go miles and fulfil the promises and guarantees we made to the public. This is a result of the collective work of our workers, from booth to state level.. they worked under collective leadership,” Kharge said. Talking to reporters after the grand old party scored an emphatic victory in the Assembly polls, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: “I congratulate the people of Karnataka. They have sent a message across the state that the public want a politics that resolves their issues, a politics where their issues are discussed.
She said the people of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh have proved that politics of diversion will not work anymore.“As I said, this (coming to power in Karnataka) is a huge responsibility. We went to the people with a few guarantees and we have to fulfill them. We have to work for the people. Public will tell us what will happen next,” said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra when asked about “voices” in the country that Rahul Gandhi will become the PM. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said that the saffron party spoke of “Congress mukt-Bharat” but the party itself is not in power in the southern part of the country.
Talking to reporters, Baghel said: “First we won Himachal Pradesh and then we won Karnataka. They used to speak of ‘Congress mukt-Bharat’ but now South India is ‘BJP-mukt’.” He called the results “a defeat of the Prime Minister.”Expressing joy over the party’s performance in Karnataka Assembly polls, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Assembly poll results confirmed that the Congress had won and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lost.
Ramesh said Karnataka has rejected the BJP’s campaign which was “a referendum on the PM.”“As the results firm up in Karnataka, it is now certain that the Congress has won and the PM has lost. The BJP had made its election campaign a referendum on the PM and on the state getting his ‘ashirwaad’. That has been decisively rejected!”, Jairam Ramesh tweeted. According to the Congress leader, the grand old party fought the Karnataka polls on local issues — livelihood and food security, price rise, farmer distress, electricity supply, joblessness, and corruption.
He accused PM Modi of having injected divisiveness and polarising voters in the elections.“The PM injected divisiveness and attempted polarisation. The vote in Karnataka is for an engine in Bengaluru that will combine economic growth with social harmony,” Jairam Ramesh tweeted.