Learn from Gujarat mistakes to beat BJP: Rahul to K'taka CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, who met CM Siddaramaiah and other leaders from Karnataka on Saturday in Delhi, was reportedly keen that they learn from the mistakes of the Gujarat campaign to win against the BJP in the coming assembly poll.

Going by a senior leader, Mr Gandhi ,who gave pep talk to state leaders based on his recent experience in Gujarat, felt the party would have won in that state if it had a robust booth level network and directed them to make sure it existed in Karnataka.

He warned them against making any “absurd” comments that could antagonise any community or draw undue attention from the media and said the party should not be seen as appeasing a particular community in the run- up to the poll. “He told the leaders that the party should treat all communities equally, recalling that remarks like neech had an adverse impact on the Congress in Gujarat," sources said. While Mr Gandhi was said to be happy with the election preparations of the party, he directed the state leaders to get rid of factionalism and work unitedly to defeat the Modi-Shah duo’s poll strategy in Karnataka.

Following the meeting, Mr Siddaramaiah said, “Mr Gandhi is very happy with the functioning of the government. He was happy that there is no anti-incumbency in state and to know that all promises made to the people in the manifesto have been fulfilled.” Refusing to apologise for his attack on the BJP, he trashed its national president, Amit Shah's description of his government as anti-Hindu, saying he was raising irrelevant issues. “They are raising irrelevant issues. Yogi Adityanath raised the same issue. And (PM ) Modi may also raise the same issue because they have no issues here to talk about," he said caustically.

Asked about calling the BJP and its leaders terrorists, he claimed he had not used the word terrorist, but only said that they spread hatred in the name of Hindutva. “I said I am a Hindu but a humane Hindu,” he recalled. Asked if he would apologise for his remarks, he shot back, “Why?”