NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lauded the people of Uttar Pradesh after the INDIA bloc registered a strong performance in the state in the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, defying the predictions made in the exit polls. According to the latest data by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the INDIA bloc is ahead on 44 out of 80 seats in the state. Samajwadi Party is ahead on 38 seats while the Congress party is leading on 6 seats. Addressing a press conference at AICC headquarters, Rahul Gandhi said, “UP ki janta ne kamaal karke dikha diya…The people of UP understood the politics of the country and the danger to the Constitution, and they safeguarded the Constitution. I want to thank all the states but I would especially thank Uttar Pradesh. I thank them for supporting the Congress party and the INDIA alliance.” “We are going to have a meeting with our INDIA alliance partners tomorrow…we respect our alliance partners and we won’t make statements to the press without asking them,” the Congress leader said. He added, “We will hold a meeting with our alliance partners…tomorrow. These questions will be raised and answered there…I respect our alliance partners and we won’t make any statements without asking our alliance partners.” The Congress leader further said that the party and the INDIA bloc fought against not just BJP but also against the “institutions”, adding that their fight is to “save the Constitution.” “We fought this election not just against BJP but also the institutions, the governance structure of the country, the intelligence agencies CBI and ED, half of the judiciary because all these institutions were captured and threatened by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi ji,” Rahul Gandhi said. He added, “The fight was to save the Constitution. When they seized our bank account and put Chief Ministers in jail, broke parties, it was in my mind that the people of India would come together to fight for their Constitution.” Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the majority mark in early leads and is ahead on around 300 seats, while the INDIA bloc, defying all predictions is leading on over 230 seats. Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA. Earlier in the day, Congress leader Pawan Khera also said they won’t reveal the discussions happening behind the scenes. He also said the party is still keeping the target of 295 seats for the INDIA bloc. “Not every such thing is made public which is happening behind the scenes,” Khera told ANI. “We are keeping the same target (of 295 seats), if everything goes well then we will reach 295…Why are the results not being uploaded on time on the Election Commission website?… We are confident that we will be in a position to form the government,” he added.
