Appreciating the Congress party for its glorious lead in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the win as a 'decisive mandate' of the people of Karnataka 'in favour of change.' Taking a potshot at the saffron party, Banerjee said that brute authoritarian and majoritarian politics is vanquished. In the counting, the grand old party is emerging as a victorious party with 137 seats in the state crossing the majority mark. 'My salutations to the people of Karnataka for their decisive mandate in favour of change!! Brute authoritarian and majoritarian politics is vanquished!!,' a tweet of Banerjee reads. Mamata Banerjee described the lead of Congress in the state as the 'lesson for tommorow'. 'When people want plurality and democratic forces to win, no central design to dominate can repress their spontaneity: that is the moral of the story, lesson for tomorrow,' tweeted Mamata Banerjee.
Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan and a prominent member of the Congress party, responded to the results of the Karnataka assembly elections by attributing the his party's strong performance to Rahul Gandhi's pan-India foot march "Bharat Jodo Yatra".While Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai (Shiggaon), former CM Siddaramaiah (Varuna), state Congress President D K Shivakumar (Kanakapura), and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy (Channapatna) are among the prominent faces leading in their respective segments, Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil (Ramanagara), BJP national General Secretary C T Ravi (Chikkamagaluru), and former CM Jagadish Shettar of the Congress (Hubli-Dharwad Central) are trailing.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi congratulated his party leaders and workers for the thumping victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections as the votes were counted on Saturday. Stating that the grand old party “fought Karnataka war with love,” Rahul vowed that the five guarantees of the party will be fulfilled in the southern state. Meanwhile, all eyes are now on Congress’s decision for the Chief Minister post for which DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are seen as top contenders. While it initially looked like a tight fight between the BJP and Congress, the picture soon changed.