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Mamata Banerjee Rejoices As Congress Sweeps Karnataka: 'Lesson For Tomorrow'

Mamata Banerjee, whose party regularly fights Congress in West Bengal polls, celebrated the grand old party's win in Karnataka.

Karnataka Elections 2023
 
| Written By
Ronit Singh
Mamata Banerjee

Image: PTI


Mamata Banerjee is celebrating as Congress wins Karnataka. The grand old party has sealed the state with a massive mandate winning 136 out of 224 seats. Reacting to the results, the West Bengal chief minister tweeted: "My salutations to the people of Karnataka for their decisive mandate in favour of change!! Brute authoritarian and majoritarian politics is vanquished!! 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."

Mamata's rejoicing on a Congress victory cuts an interesting image because in West Bengal, where her party the Trinamool Congress is in power, the Congress contests polls against her, and in alliance with her arch-rivals, the CPI(M). Mamata's reachout could well be a an attempt to solidify the very loosely knit Opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

The Karnataka election results have seen reactions come in from leaders of regional parties. MK Stalin, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, said, "Congrats @INCIndia on spectacular winning of Karnataka. The unjustifiable disqualification of brother 
@RahulGandhi as MP, misusing premier investigative agencies against political opponents, imposing Hindi, rampant corruption have all echoed in the minds of Karnataka people while voting and they have upheld the #KannadigaPride by teaching a befitting lesson to BJP's vindictive politics."

"The landmass of Dravidian family stands clear of BJP. Now let us all work together to win 2024 to restore democracy and constitutional values in India," he added. 

Congress sweeps southern state

The Karnataka polls were held on May 10 to elect 224 members of the state Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes commenced at 8 am on May 13 with over 2,615 candidates in the fray. According to the latest trends, the Congress has managed to take a lead on 136 seats in the 224-member assembly. The majority mark in Karnataka is 113. 

Meanwhile, the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 assembly elections, has not crossed even 70 seats, according to election commission trends. While Congress has received nearly 43 per cent vote share, BJP seems to be limiting itself at 35 per cent. Several cards played by Congress including anti-incumbency, corruption and polarisation boosted the party's electoral performance. 

While expressing his gratitude towards the voters of Karnataka, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, "I thank the people of Karnataka for giving a huge mandate to Congress. We will uphold their belief in us. We will implement all the welfare schemes we have announced in our manifesto. I thank Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi who campaigned even when she wasn't well." 

Read: Karnataka Election 2023 updates

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