As Congress surpassed the 113-seat majority mark in the Karnataka Assembly on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his congratulations to the party on their victory and extended his “best wishes to them in fulfilling people’s aspirations”. The Prime Minister praised the tireless efforts of BJP workers during the May 10 Karnataka elections and pledged to serve with greater enthusiasm in the future.
As per the latest updates on the Election Commission website, the Congress party was either leading or had won in 136 out of 224 assembly seats in the state, surpassing the majority mark of 113 with ease. Meanwhile, the BJP’s tally had dropped sharply from 104 in 2018 to 64 seats. The JD-S, which had aspired to be the kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats, a decline from its previous figure of 37, according to the Election Commission data at the time of this report.
Following shortly after Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, expressed his gratitude to the people of Karnataka for “shutting down the market of hate” and “opening the shop of love”, Prime Minister Modi conveyed his message.
“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’ and ‘mohabbat ki dukaanein’ (shops of love) have opened,” he said.
The recently held election was perceived as a highly contentious one, marked by a caustic campaign that revolved around topics like Bajrang Dal, Bajrang Bali, corruption, and heated discussions on the state government’s decision to revoke the 4% reservation for OBC Muslims and other matters such as the hijab.
The Congress party’s vital triumph in the southern state sparked jubilant celebrations at their offices throughout the country, from Bengaluru to Bikaner and Ranchi to Ahmedabad. Party workers rejoiced by dancing to drumbeats and setting off fireworks to commemorate the occasion.
