Bengaluru (PTI): Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday exhorted party leaders in Karnataka to work together and set a target to win 150 seats in the Assembly elections due next year.
Addressing a party meeting here, he said Karnataka has a "spirit of Congress" and is a "natural Congress State".
"....we should win with a minimum of 150 seats (in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly)," Gandhi said. "We should fight united, on right issues and with merit as criteria".
He said the "biggest responsibility" for party leaders Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar, and Mallikarjun Kharge and others is to fight together and win 150 seats.
"We should focus on youth and women in this election whether in giving ticket or in organisation," Gandhi said. "I have full confidence that the Congress will win with clear majority and give a government that works for the poor, small traders and all sections."
The Congress leader also attacked the BJP which, he alleged, is not in a position to generate jobs as "they have destroyed small and medium industries".
"The Prime Minister used to speak about corruption, but if he speaks about it in Karnataka, people will laugh as this (BJP government in Karnataka) is the most corrupt state with 40 percentage (commission) government".
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Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
