"Karnataka 2023 Has No Implications On India 2024": Union Minister To NDTV

Rajeev Chandrasekhar also took a swipe at the Congress for its pre-poll promises, alleging that the party fails to deliver on them later.

Karnataka 2023 has no implication on India 2024, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said today in an interview with NDTV, downplaying the Congress's huge electoral victory in the southern state. He said the people want to move forward with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of inclusive development, and the state poll loss won't dampen the ruling party's prospects in next year's general elections. 2024 is a foregone conclusion, and PM Modi will continue to govern the country to its destiny, he said.

"Anyone who is a sane observer of the progress India has made in the last nine years, compared to the 65 years before that, will ever have an inkling of doubt about which way the country wants to go, which way the people of the country want to move. We are on a path to becoming the third-largest economy in the world, to creating opportunities for each and every Indian without discrimination, regardless of religion, and we are embarking on that path," he said.

Mr Chandrasekhar slammed the grand old party's social welfare guarantees before elections, terming them as "revdi" (freebies) -- a term often used by the PM to criticise opposition parties offering subsidies and social security schemes to the people at the cost of the state.

This type of revdi economics is extremely dangerous, especially after Chief Minister BS Bommai and his government rebuilt the Karnataka economy after Covid, the minister said, estimating that the promises of the Congress government will lead to additional spending every year of around Rs 60,000 crore.