Congress candidate Naseer Hussain’s supporters shout ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans after win

BENGALURU: As the ruling Congress party achieved an expected result in Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka, supporters of party candidate Syed Naseer Hussain celebrated his win in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha and raised pro-Pakistan slogan shouting, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.

Supporters of Naseer Hussain carried him on their shoulders and shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”. The incident came as a major embarrassment to the ruling Congress and expectedly, the opposition BJP and JD(S) launched a scathing attack.

All three Congress candidates — Ajay Maken, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar — registered victories in the biennial Rajya Sabha polls.

Naseer Hussain won by getting 47 votes. His supporters shouted anti-national slogans throughout when Public TV sought his first reaction. But when the journalist asked him about the anti-national slogans, Naseer Hussain replied that he did not know about it and walked away.

When another television journalist sought his response to the pro-Pakistan slogans raised by his supporters and pointed out that it was on video, Naseer Hussain angrily replied to him to ‘get away’.

Naseer Hussain, in his first reaction to Public TV, said all three candidates won the polls. “The BJP-JDS strategy and plan of creating fear did not work. Their alliance lost in Rajya Sabha. The alliance will lose in the Lok Sabha as well. BJP tried a lot to defeat us. They threatened leaders with ED and IT raids. They misused CBI, IT and ED and blackmailed, but all Congress MLAs stood their ground. We got our all our MLAs’ votes. If somebody from another party cross-voted, we have nothing to do with it”, he said.

Following the Congress supporters’ pro-Pakistani slogans, the opposition party leaders have raised their voice against Congress supporters and demanded their immediate arrest.