Karnataka Election 2023: Amit Shah blows poll bugle, shares his plan for assembly elections

Home Minister Amit Shah urged the Karnataka people to decide whether they are standing with a party of patriots, referring to the BJP, or with "tukde tukde gang" under the leadership of Congress.

Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the BJP will go alone in the 2023 assembly polls, and said it will be a direct contest as voting for JD(S) is like casting the ballot for Congress. Shah appealed to the party workers to ensure that BJP forms a government with two-thirds majority in Karnataka. He also urged people to decide whether they are standing with a party of patriots, referring to the BJP, or with "tukde tukde gang" under the leadership of Congress. "There are clearly two sides and it is a straight fight this time. Journalists say there is a triangular fight. I said no, it is a straight fight, because voting for JD(S) means voting for Congress. So, is it a straight fight or not?" Shah asked. 

Accusing the JD(S) of spreading rumours claiming that BJP will tie up with them, while addressing party workers here, he said: "I have come to tell the workers and the people of Karnataka that we will not go with any party. We will fight alone and form the government on our own."

"There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, tukde-tukde gang have come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country," he added. 

Addressing Booth President Sammelan of @BJP4Karnataka in Bengaluru.

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಬೂತ್‌ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರ ಸಮ್ಮೇಳವನ್ನುದ್ದೇಶಿಸಿ. https://t.co/RPSRG7b1ZL

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 31, 2022

Shah was speaking at the BJP's booth presidents and booth-level agents convention at the Palace Ground here. Highlighting the saffron party's massive victory in Gujarat, Shah told party workers assembled from across Karnataka: "If you want to form a government, don't form an incomplete one, form a government with a full two-thirds majority." 

"I have seen the mood of the people of Karnataka. People are ready (to support us), we need to go to them," he added. Karnataka will go to the polls by April-May, 2023.

(With PTI inputs)