Describing the Karnataka assembly poll results as a “ray of hope”, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said she hopes that the rest of the country will also reject “communal politics” and vote for its development and prosperity.
Mehbooba’s remarks came after the Congress emerged as the clear winner in the electoral battle in Karnataka. According to the latest trends on the Election Commission’s (EC) website, the Congress was striding forward in 136 of the 224 Assembly seats in the southern state.
“The BJP tried its best to communalise the situation as is their habit. They even brought Bajrang Bali, religion and Hindu-Muslim into the discourse. The prime minister tried to take the discourse on religious lines. Despite that, people kept these issues on the sidelines and chose the issue of development on which the Congress ran its campaign,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister told reporters here.
Mehbooba said be it Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra or other Congress leaders, they built a narrative around development, employment and welfare schemes, and people voted for that.
“It is good news because the general elections are to take place next year,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president said.
She said while the democratic values of the country and the idea of brotherhood were being attacked, “a ray of hope is being seen from Karnataka today”.
“I hope people across the country will also reject communal politics and vote for the country’s development and prosperity,” Mehbooba said.
She said the people of Karnataka have sent a good message that they do not want to get into the Hindu-Muslim debate and vote in the name of gods, but on issues of unemployment, price rise and other developmental concerns.
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