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‘Message from Karnataka elections to defeat BJP': NCP boss Sharad Pawar
Following BJP’s drubbing in Karnataka elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said, “People have rejected 'Modi hai to mumkin hai.”
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar hailed the Congress party for its thumping victory in the Karnataka assembly elections and paving the path for the opposition in its fight against the BJP. Speaking to news agency ANI on Sunday, he said that the Karnataka story is proof that the unity of like-minded parties in other states could lead to BJP’s defeat.
He said, “We have got a message from Karnataka. The state has shown a path to the opposition. If a single party like Congress in Karnataka can show their power against BJP then in other states like-minded parties should come together and defeat BJP.”
Read: Key Opposition meet likely after Karnataka government formation
A day after BJP’s election rout in Karnataka, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja met Pawar at his residence in Mumbai and discussed alternatives to BJP.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Pawar announced a ‘common minimum programme’ (CMP) to drive opposition unity, according to news agency PTI. “We are starting this process of working on both fronts (creating a strategy like Karnataka and the CMP),” he added.
Amid efforts to strengthen the opposition's unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar along with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav visited Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday. Kumar said that they are trying hard to form a larger coalition and there is ‘nothing more delightful than Pawar being the face of the opposition alliance.'
Following BJP’s drubbing in Karnataka which reduced its seat share to 66, Pawar, who was at the centre of the Maharashtra crisis, had tweeted, “People have rejected 'Modi hai to mumkin hai.” The veteran politician also praised Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Congress, which registered an emphatic win with 135 seats in the 224-member assembly, is now in the process of deciding the chief minister amid speculations of Siddaramaiah being the front-runner followed by state party president DK Shivakumar.
