Rahul's Bharat Jodo Yatra led to Karnataka win: Revanth Reddy

HYDERABAD: As the Congress romped home to power in Karnataka, unseating the BJP, TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy attributed the victory to the Bharat Jodo Yatra of party leader Rahul Gandhi.

As celebrations broke out at Gandhi Bhavan, Revanth Reddy said, “BJP uses religion for electoral purposes. Their communal agenda has been rejected. The message of Bharat Jodo Yatra has been accepted.”

Revanth Reddy told the media that the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as member of Parliament was a badly judged step.  

“Evicting him within a week even as leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad continue to live in government quarters showed the arrogance of BJP and Modi and did not go down well with the Karnataka voters,” he said.

The TPCC chief said the plan of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to side with the JD(S) and enable the BJP to come to power in the event of a hung Assembly had been foiled. “This will have influence over Telangana for sure.”

On the impact of the Karnataka results on Telangana, he said: The people of the Hyderabad-Karnatak region have given the maximum seats to the party. The area has long historical ties and connections with Telangana, and Telangana will vote similarly.”

He said the party victory in Karnataka, after the win in Himachal Pradesh, marked the second one for the Congress since Rahul Gandhi embarked on his yatra. “This will be repeated in Telangana,” Revanth Reddy said.

Revanth Reddy said the BJP had been “taught a lesson,” adding, “This is defeat of Modi and Amit Shah, who held 22 and 36 road shows, respectively. The entire party leadership was involved. South India does not have a place for northern BJP.”

Responding to minister K.T. Rama Rao’s tweet that the Karnataka results would have no bearing on Telangana, he said, “It is his wish. They did not want the Congress to win. There is no difference between BRS and BJP. They were together on all issues like Article 370, demonetisation, CAA. The CM did not give a call for defeat of Congress in Karnataka. Instead of holding huge meetings in Maharashtra, he could have easily held a meet with one lakh people and given a call to defeat the BJP in Karnataka. In supporting JD(S), he favoured the BJP.”

“Like the BJP, which ran a 40 per cent commission government in Karnataka, the BRS is also corrupt. The Chief Minister himself is saying his MLAs are charging 30 per cent commission while granting Dalit Bandhu of '10 lakh to beneficiaries. His double bedroom scheme, Mission Bhagiratha, Kaleshwaram project and sale of ORR for peanuts, all have commissions involved in the deals,” he said.

Former minister K. Jana Reddy said, “The people of Karnataka have rejected BJP’s communal agenda. The Congress came together despite differences in Karnataka. This is re-emergence of Congress. The poor, women and others taught BJP a lesson and saved democracy. They should stand by the aims for which Telangana was formed and come together in this endeavour.”

Former TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that along with Telangana, the Congress would also win Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. “Corruption, inefficiency and arrogance of the BJP have been rejected,” he said.

AICC’s Telangana incharge Manikrao Thakre, former PCC president V. Hanumantha Rao, working president Anjan Kumar Yadav, leaders Mahesh Kumar Goud, Nadeem Javid, Rohit Choudhary, former minister Jana Reddy, Shabbir Ali and Balaram Naik were present on the occasion.