INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: JordanKarnataka assembly election 2018: Rahul Gandhi is actively campaigning in parts of the stateBengaluru, Karnataka:
Rahul Gandhi, reacting to the ruling BJP's recurring campaign pitch about a "Congress-Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)",
says he does not want a "BJP-Mukt Bharat"
"I will fight them, I will defeat them," he says in an interview to the newspaper Deccan Herald.The Congress president also says people who
left the party for the BJP are "already having second thoughts."The comments come as the Karnataka poll campaign enters the slog overs, with
big guns including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath crisscrossing the state."You might have
noticed Mr Modi talks very disparagingly about me, about other Congress leaders
I will always respect the post of the Prime Minister
You will not see me using the same type of language
I am even saying that the BJP view is a fact in India, and I don't want a BJP-mukt Bharat," the 47-year-old tells the daily. Karnataka
assembly election 2018: PM Narendra Modi will address 21 public meetingsAccording to him, there is a "huge reaction" in Karnataka against
what he called a narrowly defined, Nagpur-RSS idea of nationalism
The RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the ideological mentor of the BJP."This election is frankly about Karnataka's voice versus the RSS
viewpoint versus Narendra Modi's very rigid concept of what it means to be an Indian," he said."There is a natural reaction that is coming,
we saw it in Gujarat, it is there in Karnataka, it is all over the country
This country is not going to tolerate Mr Narendra Modi or anybody else for that matter, telling this country what they think this country
needs to do.Asked how vital he thinks the Karnataka election is in the run-up to the 2019 national polls, Rahul Gandhi says: "Mr Narendra
Modi came to power in India on some planks
Number one was jobs, number two corruption, number three farmers
He has failed in addressing all three
Gujarat is the first demonstration that he has failed in them, Karnataka will be the next, and after that you will see Chhattisgarh, Madhya
And then in 2019, India is clearly going to state to Mr Narendra Modi - Mr Modi you promised us three things and all you have given us is a
But nothing has really happened."Karnataka votes on May 12 and the results will be declared three days later.
