The Lok Sabha election results were not a referendum on the Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition government in the State, said Ivan D’Souza, MLC and parliamentary secretary, on Saturday.
Addressing presspersons here, he said that people have voted back Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power based on national issues, not as an assessment of the State’s administration.
The Congress leader claimed that the coalition government is “pro-farmer and pro-poor” and remains intact. “H.D. Kumaraswamy will continue as Chief Minister for the next four years,” he asserted.
Mr. D’Souza said that the BJP had used Hindutva as its trump card this election and that Mr. Modi had returned to power by “marketing matters of national security”.
He alleged that Mr. Modi had not talked about “ sabka saath, sabka vikas ” and developmental aspects in any of the 142 rallies he addressed. Instead, he only spoke on national security matters such as Pulwama attack and the government’s retaliatory cross-border air strike. “The national media also helped him come back to power,” he said.
The MLC said that during the election tour and campaign, people spoke about the problems they faced after demonetisation and unemployment issues. But the BJP made it to power again through “religious polarisation”, Mr. D’Souza said.
However, he confessed that the Congress did not expect such a huge win for the saffron party.
