‘Voters supported Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, BJP lost at national level’, says CM Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: “Rahul Gandhi’s leadership has received huge public support from this election. The BJP has lost at the national level”, CM Siddaramaiah lashed out at the BJP as the Lok Sabha results were coming out.

Addressing a press conference at his home office ‘Krishna’ in Bengaluru, he thanked the voters of the state and the country. He also congratulated all the state cabinet members and election officials, police officials, who ensured there were no untoward incidents during the election and counting of votes in the state.

He further said the Congress could not get the expected seats in the state. “We had expected to win 15-20 seats. It did not happen according to our calculations. But in 2019, we won one seat, this time, we won nine seats. We got a voting share of 45.34 per cent while BJP got 46.04 per cent votes. In 2019, they got 51.38 per cent, we got 31.88 per cent. This time, our vote share has increased. Despite the BJP-JDS alliance in the state, their vote share has come down. The JD(S) got 5.72 per cent vote share whereas they had got 9.67 per cent vote share last time”, he elaborated.

Taking the dig at Modi’s popularity, Siddaramaiah attacked the BJP leaders, saying that they were asking for votes in the name of Modi, when the BJP was in power. “The BJP got 303 seats in 2019, 282 in 2014, and 246 seats in 2024. No party has a majority result. There is no Modi wave anywhere. It is clear from the results that Modi’s popularity has declined. The government does not know whether they will form or not. But the BJP did not get a majority”, the CM stressed.

Launching a scathing attack on Modi, CM Siddaramaiah said, “There is no Modi wave in the country, they started seeking votes in the name of religion and caste during the final stages of campaigning. He started direct attacks against Muslims. Modi did all this knowing that he would lose. None of this worked”. The CM stressed that seeking votes on communal lies did not work out.

“Overall, this election has given the BJP a big setback at the national level. Rahul Gandhi’s leadership has received support. Rahul Gandhi’s Padayatra, Bharat Jodo Yatra, and Nyay Yatra are plus points. That is why the INDI alliance got more seats. I congratulate Rahul Gandhi for  that”, the CM added.