Revanth chants 'Bajrang Bali' on victory lap, says saffron exposed

HYDERABAD: After Congress' triumph in Karnataka, the party's mega victory celebrations kicked off from a Hanuman temple near Nampally with Revanth Reddy holding aloft the deity's iconic mace amid chants of Jai Bajrang Bali, in a blunt broadside to the saffron party that the divine slogan was not a polarising chorus to garner votes.
'Jai Bajrang Bali' became a recurrent slogan during the Karnataka poll campaign, following a call by PM Modi to counter Congress' promise of banning Bajrang Dal. After his tryst with Lord Hanuman, the state Congress president visited Yousufain Dargah to buttress the party's secular ideology.
Talking to reporters, Revanth said BJP had been misusing the name of Lord Ram for political reasons and tried to polarise votes through the 'Bajrang Bali' slogan during the Karnataka campaign. "They should realise Bajrang Bali belongs to everyone. The Karnataka verdict is a clear message that people voted for harmony and development," he said, exuding confidence the Karnataka verdict will be repeated in state later this year.
"For Congress, religion is not a tool to derive political advantage. People of Karnataka embraced the 'Bharat Jodo-Nafrat Chodo' message of Rahul Gandhi during his padayatra. Voters rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Bajrang Bali' politics by decimating BJP that also raised issues like hijab and halal. KCR was looking to help BJP come to power in case of a hung verdict, with support of JD(S)," he said.
"The Karnataka election result has made it clear that the gates of South India have been shut on BJP. In 2018 election too, BJP did not get a clear mandate in Karnataka, but cobbled up numbers through defections and money power. In Telangana too, the BJP, which banks on hatred and Bhagyalakshmi temple politics will meet the same fate," he said.
"KCR held public meetings in Maharashtra, instead of holding a rally in Karnataka. KCR did not give a call even once to people of Karnataka to defeat BJP. This means he did not want the Modi-led BJP to be defeated. The Congress juggernaut started in Himachal Pradesh, then in Karnataka and now it will roll into Telangana. The Karnataka election result will be a tsunami that will hoist the Congress flag in Delhi in 2024," he said.
There are 41 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka that were part of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. "The thinking and lifestyle of people, mostly Telugus and Kannadigas, are similar. They gave Congress a clear win in the majority of these constituencies. There is no doubt the Karnataka verdict will have an impact on Telangana elections," he said.
Putting up a show of unity, Telangana's Congress top guns comprising Revanth, Manikrao Thakre, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Hanumanth Rao, Jana Reddy and Ponnala Lakshmaiah vowed to work unitedly to defeat BRS.
Referring to KTR's tweet on Karnataka poll result, Revanth said: "KTR should cheer BJP's defeat, but he seems to be unhappy. He doesn't want to say PM Modi's leadership was rejected. Instead, he tweeted that the result would have no impact on Telangana politics."