BJP lost Karnataka polls due its ‘nature’ and ‘behaviour’, ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ helped Congress: Raj Thackeray

PTI, May 14, 2023, 9:27 PM IST

Image credit: PTI / File

Thane: The defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Karnataka Assembly elections is the result of its “nature” and “behaviour” and Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ definitely helped the Congress, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at Ambernath in Maharashtra’s Thane district, Thackeray said the “opposition party never wins the election, it’s the ruling party that loses in the polls”.

In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the Congress put up an impressive show by winning 135 seats, while incumbent BJP and the former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19, respectively.

Thackeray said that the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Rahul Gandhi’s foot march from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, also helped in changing the fortunes of the Congress in the southern state. He said citizens should never be taken for granted and that political parties should learn lessons from the results in Karnataka.

It is too early to predict in what way these results will affect the parties in Maharashtra in the coming elections, including the 2024 polls, he said.

Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra Assembly polls are scheduled to be held next year.