Rahul Gandhi to visit Karnataka temples, offer prayer at darghas

New Delhi: After the successful temple run in Gujarat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to continue employing the soft Hindutva strategy in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state and election-bound Karnataka. 

Mr Gandhi tactically used his visits to Gujarat temples during campaigning to help his party negate the “minority appeaser” jibes of the BJP. He is now slated to offer prayers at Somnath temple in Gujarat on December 22 as part his state visit for attending the Gujarat Congress Committee’s meeting to discuss the election results.

The Congress chief’s second round of temple run would be in Karnataka, where Assembly elections are expected to be held in May next year. 

Some of the Karnataka temples that the Congress president could visit include Agnidurga Gopalakrishna Temple, Navagraha Jain Temple, Mangaladevi Temple, Mangaluru Kollur Mookambikai Temple and Subramanyeshwara Temple. 

To maintain a balance, the Congress president would also offer prayers at darghas in Bengaluru. The Congress is in no mood to ignore the minorities as the state has nearly 13 per cent of Muslim population. Congress insiders revealed that while the party would play the soft Hindutva card it would not alienate the minorities. The party would, however, remain “neutral” on Ram Mandir issue and “accept” the court verdict.

It was pointed out that in Gujarat the Congress had unleashed a double-pronged strategy to take on the BJP. While Mr Gandhi wooed the Hindus with his temple run, the party through its social coalition had cleverly played the KHAM - Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim - card.