Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, praised the people of Uttar Pradesh after the INDIA alliance outperformed expectations in the state during Tuesday’s Lok Sabha elections.
Based on the most recent figures released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), 44 of the 80 seats in the state are held by the INDIA bloc. With 38 seats, the Samajwadi Party leads, while the Congress party has six seats.
“UP ki janta ne kamaal karke dikha diya,” Rahul Gandhi stated during a press conference held at the AICC headquarters.The people of Uttar Pradesh were aware of the nation’s politics and the threat to the Constitution, so they defended it. I express my gratitude to all the states, but especially to Uttar Pradesh. I appreciate their backing of the INDIA coalition and the Congress party.”
“We are going to have a meeting with our INDIA alliance partners tomorrow…we respect our alliance partners and we won’t make statements to the press without asking them,” the Congress leader said.
He added, “We will hold a meeting with our alliance partners…tomorrow. These questions will be raised and answered there…I respect our alliance partners and we won’t make any statements without asking our alliance partners.”
The Congress leader further said that the party and the INDIA bloc fought against not just BJP but also against the “institutions”, adding that their fight is to “save the Constitution.”
“We fought this election not just against BJP but also the institutions, the governance structure of the country, the intelligence agencies CBI and ED, half of the judiciary because all these institutions were captured and threatened by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi ji,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He added, “The fight was to save the Constitution. When they seized our bank account and put Chief Ministers in jail, broke parties, it was in my mind that the people of India would come together to fight for their Constitution.”
In the meantime, the INDIA group is leading on more than 230 seats, defying all projections, while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the majority threshold in early leads and is ahead on almost 300 seats.
The bulk of exit polls projected a two-thirds majority for the current BJP-led NDA, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to serve a straight term.
Congressman Pawan Khera had stated earlier in the day that they would not disclose the talks that take place behind closed doors. Additionally, he stated that the party remains committed to securing 295 seats for the INDIA bloc.
“Not every such thing is made public which is happening behind the scenes,” Khera told ANI.
“We are keeping the same target (of 295 seats), if everything goes well then we will reach 295…Why are the results not being uploaded on time on the Election Commission website?… We are confident that we will be in a position to form the government,” he added.