Karnataka elections: Will repeat this feat in every state, says Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi called the Congress landslide win in Karnataka a victory of the poor and the “phenomenon” will repeat in every state, sounding a confident note about the future after the results.
While thanking the people of Karnataka and party workers for the historic mandate, Rahul Gandhi said the state electoral battle was one between the strength of crony capitalists and that of the poor masses. “The strength of the poor people defeated the might of the capitalists. This (phenomenon) is what will happen in every state. Congress in Karnataka stood with the poor people and we contested the polls on the issues that mattered to the poor. What I like the most is that we did not fight this battle with hate or with wrong words. We fought these elections with love, affection, and with an open heart, and the people of Karnataka showed us that this country appreciates love.
Karnataka mein nafrat ka bazaar band hua hai, mohabbat ki dukaane khuli hain (the market of hate has closed down and shops of love have opened.”
He repeated that the first cabinet meeting of the Karnataka government will approve the five promises made to the people during the polls.
High on symbolism, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra offered prayers at the Jakhu Hanuman temple in Shimla as the counting started in Karnataka, and later hailed the party’s performance as the victory of politics that unites the country. She said the message of the mandate was that people want solution to their problems. “The most important thing is that the politics that attempts to divert people’s attention and doesn’t speak of public issues will not work any more in this country. We saw this in Himachal and Karnataka. People want discussion on their issues and a solution to the same,” she said. Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh said, “Congress’s win is PM Narendra Modi’s decisive defeat. This is because except for PM Modi, there was no other face. The issues we raised were related to the state. But BJP made the election campaign like a referendum for PM Modi.”
“The PM thought he had a conch which was ‘anantavijayam’ like that of Yudhisthira in the Mahabharata. This election has proved the PMcan be defeated and that he is not ‘anantavijayam’ (forever victorious),” he added.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram congratulated the people of Karnataka for the “decisive verdict” and said they stood up to the “money and muscle power of the so-called double engine government” of BJP. “This election was more than an election to a state assembly. It was about upholding the fundamental values of the Indian Constitution and stopping the damage done by supremacist theories, discrimination and prejudice,” he said.