Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition was confident of winning all the five states where the Assembly elections were being held in November. He said the INDIA alliance would wait till the Assembly polls got over to embark on a seat-sharing discussion for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
On whether the Assembly elections in the five states would be a semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kharge told ANI: "No, that is not the case. Every state has different election issues, voting is done as per those."
Kharge also took a dig at the Prime Minister, stating that Modi calls every election a poll to elect him. "Parliament elections are different from Assembly elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls every election a poll to elect him - municipal elections, assembly elections...Is he going to become the CM? So, people vote for local leaders, who worked and resolved their issues," Kharge added.
He expressed confidence that the elections were going to work in favour of the Congress and the Opposition. "The five state elections' work is going on well. We are confident that we will win all five states. There is anti-incumbency for BJP. People are annoyed due to inflation and unemployment. The BJP did not meet any of its promises," said Kharge.
The Congress president also praised Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel for the "good work" they were doing in their states. "There are no issues there. There are problems in Madhya Pradesh due to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. People are against him. So, we expect to bring our government in all the five states and everything will be fine," he said.
On the issue of INDIA alliance seat-sharing, Kharge said, "We will see this. Let the 5-state elections take place first..."
Kharge also shot down the BJP's accusations of Karnataka being an "ATM" for the state government. "CM and Deputy CM have already answered this. It has been barely a few months since the Government was formed there and they are already saying these things...You should think and speak...They are trying to defame the government due to elections. This is not going to work," Kharge told ANI