Rahul Gandhi gives 150 seats for Congress in Karnataka

AICC leader Rahul Gandhi has said that he was confident that the Congress would win around 150 seats in the upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka. Addressing a rally in Bidar, he cautioned party leaders not to allow BJP to win more than 40 seats, lest it try to form a government by subverting the people's mandate.

"We won the last election. The BJP stole the government you chose and established a 40% commission government. A clear mandate is necessary so that BJP has no chances of corruption," Gandhi said, referring to 'Operation Lotus'. BJP had dislodged the JDS-Congress post-poll coalition in 2019 by getting 17 MLAs belonging to JDS and Congress to quit their parties and seek reelection in bypolls.

Gandhi called Bidar the karmabhoomi of 12th century social reformer Basavanna. He alleged RSS and BJP were "attacking Basavanna's philosophy of inclusiveness".