With the Bharatiya Janata Party leading the table in Karnataka polls, its leaders described the Assembly poll results as an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda. The leaders also claimed that the people had rejected the divisive, toxic and negative politics of the Congress.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying someone was dreaming of becoming the prime minister, a reference to Gandhi's statement during the Karnataka poll campaign that he was ready for the top post if his party won the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that it was a historic day for the BJP and the results were an endorsement of Prime Minister Modi's development agenda. The people had rejected the divisive, toxic and negative politics of the Congress, she added.
Union minister, Nitin Gadkari, hailed the BJP's performance in the southern state and said the results and trends available till now virtually proved that the saffron party's "Congress-free India" slogan was turning out to be true.
"We had been talking about a Congress-free India. The Karnataka poll results are virtually proving that. The Congress is not in power in any of the key states, barring Punjab. The condition of the Congress is such that it is opposing (the BJP) for the sake of opposing," he added.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also the BJP in-charge for the Karnataka election said that the saffron party performed better than the Congress as it was a party of the masses, while the latter was a party of dynasts.
"This is a victory of Modi and party president Amit Shah's strategy," he added.
Polling for the 222 of the 224 Assembly seats in Karnataka was held on May 12.
Polling for the R R Nagar seat was deferred on account of alleged electoral malpractices, while it was countermanded in the Jayanagar seat, following the death of the BJP candidate BN Vijayakumar.
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