J'khand Cong workers celebrate party's victory in Karnataka

Bajrangbali taught them a lesson and gave his blessings to Rahul Gandhi. The Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64, a sharp drop from its tally of 104 in 2018, according to the latest trends on the Election Commission website.

As the Congress was poised to win power in Karnataka, ousting the BJP from its only southern perch on Saturday, workers of the grand old party in Jharkhand celebrated across the state.

They danced to the beats of drums, smeared green 'gulal', burst firecrackers and distributed sweets among themselves as the results from the May 10 election rolled in. The Congress workers assembled at party headquarters here and raised slogans such as 'Jai Bajrangbali' and 'Rahul Gandhi Zindabad'.

Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, ''Our party is set to form a government with a decisive majority in Karnataka. The BJP raised ‘Bajrangbali’ slogan during the election campaign. 'Bajrangbali' taught them a lesson and gave his blessings to Rahul Gandhi.'' The Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64, a sharp drop from its tally of 104 in 2018, according to the latest trends on the Election Commission website. The JD-S, which had hoped to be the kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats, down from 37 last time.

''We fought the Karnataka polls with full power. And, we are now ready for the Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh battles. People sent a message through the Karnataka elections that they are going to vote for the Congress in the next year's Lok Sabha polls,'' Thakur said.

Ruling JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said Karnataka people gave a befitting reply to the BJP in the elections. ''Our ally Congress took out 'Bharat Jodo' yatra, while the BJP went to the Karnataka polls with 'Bharat Todo' mantra. People cannot be divided,'' he said. BJP spokesperson Pratul Shadeo said the party accepted the mandate of the people and would analyse the Karnataka poll results.