Congress paying price for excessive appeasement politics: Karnataka BJP leader

“While speaking in the Assembly last February regarding the incident where supporters of Congress Rajya Sabha member Naseer Ahmed raised pro-Pakistan slogans in Vidhana Soudha, I had predicted that Congress' excessive appeasement of Muslims and its infatuation with vote-bank politics would eventually harm the party. The results of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections have proved my words true. Congress must finally understand the bitter truth that Muslims will only vote for the party as long as there is no alternative option available to them,” Ashoka stated in a post on X.

“The Jammu and Kashmir election results clearly indicate that conscious voters favor development-oriented politics and reject appeasement politics,” Ashoka said.

He said that Congress ally and National Conference Party leader Omar Abdullah has advised Congress to shift its focus towards the Hindu-majority Jammu region, indicating that Congress was no longer relevant in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region. However, without the support of either Muslim or Hindu voters, Congress has been completely defeated in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In the 2014 Assembly elections, Congress won 12 seats with an 18 percent vote share. But in 2024, it has been reduced to just 6 seats with a mere 12 percent vote share. Out of the 29 seats Congress contested in Hindu-majority Jammu, it managed to win only one seat. On the other hand, the BJP, which had won 25 seats in 2014, increased its tally to 29 seats in 2024. With 25.64 percent of the vote share, the BJP has surpassed the National Conference Party, becoming the leading party in terms of vote share,” he added.

He added that it is high time for Congress leaders in Karnataka to wake up and shift their focus from appeasement and vote-bank politics towards development.

“Otherwise, the fate that befell Congress in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana will inevitably repeat itself in Karnataka as well,” he added.