Sonia addresses rare rally, tells BJP ‘don’t take state, country on path of destruction’

While Rahul Gandhi was present at the rally, he did not address it.

“Don’t toy with the history of social justice in the state. To fulfil your political greed, don’t take Karnataka and the country on the path of destruction,” Sonia said in her speech.

“Today, the situation is such that they (BJP leaders) openly issue threats. They say that if they do not win, then Karnataka will not get Modi’s blessing. They say that if the BJP loses, there will be riots here… People of the state are not dependent on anyone’s blessings but trust their hard work and dedication. The time has come to tell them (BJP leaders) that the fortune of leaders is determined by the blessings of the people. Their fate is not dependent on the blessings of any leader. People decide their own fate,” she said.

The former Congress president also accused the BJP of creating an atmosphere of “loot, lies, arrogance and hatred” and called “dacoity” the party’s business. “You did not vote for the BJP in 2018, yet they committed dacoity and assumed power,” she said, referring to the BJP forming the government after taking away MLAS from the JD(S)-Congress coalition government.

With the BJP projecting the Congress poll manifesto promise to crack down on radical organisations that “spread hatred”, such as the Bajrang Dal and Popular Front of India, as an attack on Hanuman, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the party of invoking the God for votes.

Raising the slogan “Jai Bajrang Bali, todh do bhrashtachar ki nali (Hey Hanuman, cut off the life source of corruption)” at the rally, Kharge said the Congress was instead using Hanuman to rid the state of corruption.