Congress credits Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra for Karnataka victory

Congress on Saturday sought to credit Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra for Karnataka victory citing victory in 15 of the 20 seats through which the padayatra travelled and the top leader recalling his pet theme during the walkathon to celebrate it saying people have shut the "market of hatred" and opened "shops of love".

As Rahul said that this will be replicated in other states too, the Congress noted that it could win only four seats of these five years ago and thanks to the yatra, it has risen to 16, including one by a candidate the Congress supported. Another calculation showed that Congress won 37 out of 51 seats in these seven districts.

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"While this is the direct impact of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, the intangible impact was uniting the party, reviving the cadre and shaping the narrative for the Karnataka elections. It was during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, from the many conversations Rahul Gandhi had with the people of Karnataka, that the guarantees and the promises in our manifesto were discussed and finalised," Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

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As the numbers showed Congress romping home comfortably, Rahul told reporters at the party headquarters that "nafrat ka bazaar" has closed down and "mohabbat ki dukaanein" have opened in the state.

"I thank and congratulate the people of Karnataka, party workers and leaders. I am happy we contested the Karnataka polls without using hate, bad language. We fought the polls with love...In the Karnataka polls, on the one side there was power of crony capitalists and on the other there was the strength of poor people. The strength of the poor has defeated the power of crony capitalists and this will happen in all states," he said.

Rahul, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigned extensively in Karnataka attending over 80 campaign rallies and roadshows after the elections were declared.

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While Rahul, who campaigned for ten days, too crisscrossed the state attending 20 public meetings and one roadshow till Sunday evening while Priyanka had 25 public meetings and roadshows. Priyanka also addressed eight corner meetings following the roadshows.

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Like Rahul, Priyanka also attracted huge crowds and was at the forefront to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's jibes at the Congress. It was in one of her meetings that she announced one of the five guarantees -- Rs 2,000 for women. It was her criticism of Modi that led the Congress to initiate the 'Cry PM' social media campaign.