Karnataka Election Results: Congress has shot past the halfway mark, the latest trends show.
Just as trends from the counting of votes for the Karnataka Assembly elections placed Congress ahead of rival BJP, the grand old party started crediting former party president Rahul Gandhi's pan-India foot march "Bharat Jodo Yatra" for the state continuing a 38-year trend where the ruling party has never returned to power for a second consecutive term.
Soon after the counting of votes started, the official Twitter account of the party this morning posted a video montage of Mr Gandhi's pictures from the Bharat Jodo Yatra with the popular English song "Unstoppable" playing in the background. The two top Karnataka Congress leaders who have steered the party in the state -- DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah -- were absent from the video. The party, however, posted another short clip hours later, after the BJP conceded defeat, where Mr Gandhi is seen playing a drum holding the hands of both the leaders.
"I'm invincible
I'm so confident
Yeah, I'm unstoppable today," Congress tweeted with Rahul Gandhi's picture as the thumbnail of the video.
Congress spokespersons appearing on various news channels have also been crediting Mr Gandhi's foot march for energising the cadres on the ground, saying it played a crucial role in the party's performance this time.
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted that the atmosphere during Mr Gandhi's Yatra in Karnataka was visible in the election results.
"The atmosphere which was visible in Karnataka during Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is clearly visible in the election results of Karnataka today. Under the leadership of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Congress leaders did a great campaign. Karnataka has chosen the politics of development by rejecting communal politics. This will be repeated in the upcoming Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana assembly elections as well," he tweeted in Hindi.
Congress has a comfortable lead, shooting past the halfway mark, the latest trends show. The ruling BJP is leading on 70-plus seats and HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S) is ahead in over 25 seats.
The Congress has asked all its MLAs to reach Bengaluru, as leads placed it across the halfway mark. Congress's Siddaramaiah said he is sure of the party crossing the 120 mark. There are reports that the party has booked several resorts to keep its flock together. It prompted a jibe from the BJP, which said the Congress "doesn't trust its MLAs".