Amit Shah promises Congress-mukt Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi says his party will win

Bangalore : Calling upon the party's state leaders and cadres to work together with unity, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the party would win the assembly election in the state due in April-May 2018. While, NDA's Amit Shah claimed his party's victory in the polls.

"The Congress will win the assembly election on the strength of its work done for the people, especially farmers, Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes and weaker sections," said Gandhi at a party rally in this town in the state's northern region, about 500km from Bengaluru.

The party, which returned to power in May 2013 after a decade in the opposition, will contest the assembly election on the basis of its performance over the last four years, including various welfare schemes for the people across the state, he said.

"We work for all, including the farmers, Adivasis (tribals), Dalits, backward classes and weaker sections. What we have done for them in the last four years, we will do more in the next five years after the poll," reiterated Gandhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, who arrived here on Saturday on a three-day visit to Karnataka, claimed that the BJP would return to power in the assembly elections in early 2018.

Addressing about 500 party cadres and its state unit leaders outside the airport on arrival from New Delhi, Shah said: "I have come here with a firm will to bring the BJP back to power in the state. I can sense the mood of the people to give our party an opportunity again to serve them."

Wearing the popular 'Mysore Peta' (headgear) and sporting a saffron shawl, Shah said the party would strive to win about 150 seats in the 225-member assembly to form the next government.

"It will be a BJP government this time to free the people from the corrupt and incompetent Congress government in the state. We will make Karnataka also a Congress-free state, as we did in other states," he said.