Karnataka doesn't need anyone's 'aashirwaad': Sonia Gandhi slams PM Modi, BJP in Hubballi

"I want to tell the BJP that the people of Karnataka do not rely on anyone's aashirwaad, but on their own hard work. On May 10, the people of Karnataka will tell you what they are made of," she said.

Hubbali (Karnataka): Former Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday arrived in poll-bound Karnataka's Hubballi to campaign for the party ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections. Addressing a public rally, she slammed the BJP-led central government and said she was confident of Congress' win.

"Neither Karnataka nor India can progress without ending 'atmosphere of BJP's loot, lies, ego and hatred," Sonia Gandhi said. "BJP leaders opnely threaten that if they do not win, the people of Karnataka will not get PM Modi's blessings and there will be riots. I want to tell the BJP that the people of Karnataka do not rely on anyone's aashirwaad, but on their own hard work. On May 10, the people of Karnataka will tell you what they are made of," she said.

Earlier, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and several senior party leaders received her here. Karnataka has a long connection with the Nehru-Gandhi family and has been a "comeback territory" in the past. Indira Gandhi made a political comeback from Chikmagalur in Karnataka in a bypoll in 1978. Sonia Gandhi also fought from Ballari in the state in her debut election in which she was also in the fray from Amethi.

Karnataka is crucial for Congress as it can mark its revival for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. If BJP is defeated in Karnataka, the party will not be in power in any southern state. With Rahul Gandhi having been disqualified from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case and the election debacles Congress faced in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress is pinning strong hopes on Karnataka where it has strong state leadership.

The party feels that a win in Karnataka will give it a massive boost to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the 2024 general elections and emerge as a fulcrum of opposition unity. Rahul Gandhi has so far held 17 rallies and roadshows in Karnataka, while his sister Priyanka Gandhi has done 19 rallies. Sonia Gandhi has not campaigned in any state elections in the recent past.

The former Congress president did the last election rally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli. She gave a speech at the Bharat Bachao rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on December 14, 2019. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also in the State as a star campaigner for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), addressed a gathering in Badami.