New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will begin the party's nationwide 'Satyamev Jayate' agitation on April 5 from Karnataka's Kolar, the place where he made a remark on the Modi surname for which he was convicted of criminal defamation and was stripped of his Parliament membership, party state president D K Shivakumar said.
Rejecting any possibility of alliance, Shivakumar also said the party would contest the state elections alone and win on its own.
“We don't need any alliance. Congress party will win its own. I am expecting a two-thirds majority. Rahul is coming here on April 5. He is not afraid of disqualification, jail or anything. Without Congress party, the country cannot be united,” ANI quoted Shivakumar as saying.
His statement comes hours after the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly polls were announced. The voting will take place on May 10 and counting will be done on May 13.
Hailing the one-day polling schedule, Shivakumar said, “Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee would like to welcome one-day polling which has been announced. May 10 will not be only voting day, it will be the day of rooting out corruption.”
Speaking on similar lines, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had said the party is making efforts to highlight the corruption of the BJP government.
“Probably it is for the first time in the history of Karnataka polls that so many people are after Congress. But Congress is strong there and will win. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and other senior leaders of our party will also visit the state,” Kharge said.
Speaking about the chief ministerial candidate, Kharge said, “The face of the chief minister will be decided after the elections. The views of the victorious MLAs will be sought and then the high command will decide. I cannot declare the exact number the Congress will win but I can say that the party will win.”
Notably, Karnataka, which has 224 seats in the Assembly, currently has 119 MLAs of the ruling BJP, while Congress has 75 and its ally JD(S) has 28 seats.