As Karnataka assembly polls were underway on Saturday, the Congress party surged ahead, prompting Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to comment on the BJP’s failed promise of a “Congress mukt-Bharat.” Baghel stated that the BJP had claimed that it would make India free of the Congress party but it was not even in power in southern India. Baghel added that the Congress’s victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka were a clear sign that South India was now “BJP-mukt”. He further called the election results a defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Baghel’s comments came as Congress led on 136 seats with victories on ten seats, and a lead on 126 more, according to the Election Commission of India trends. Meanwhile, the BJP was trailing with 64 seats, and the JD(S) was ahead on 20 seats. Independent candidates were ahead on two seats, while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha were ahead on one each. The counting of votes had begun at 8 am, with tight security measures in place across the state.
Baghel went on to say that the victory was not only a defeat for the BJP but also for Prime Minister Modi. Baghel attributed the Congress’s win to Bajrang Bali’s ‘gada’ hitting corruption on its head, adding that the BJP was done. The Congress had promised “stringent action” against fringe elements like Bajrang Dal on the lines of the banned outfit Popular Front of India, which had not gone down well with the BJP and other right-wing outfits. The ruling BJP had then asked people to vote in the name of ‘Bajrang Bali.’
Former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath also lauded the Congress’s victory and alleged that the BJP would try to “strike a deal” with the MLAs of other parties and independent candidates. Nath said that it was certain that the Congress would form the government in Karnataka, but the BJP would attempt to strike a deal with MLAs of other parties and independent candidates.
Leader of Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary came out hard against the BJP, stating that it was not the government but the people who decided the mandate. Chaudhary added that Prime Minister Modi, under his dictatorship, had cancelled the membership of Rahul Gandhi just because he spoke against corruption. According to Chaudhary, the people of Karnataka threw the BJP out due to corruption, and this showed that the mandate was decided by the people, not the government.
