Not politics of hate, but politics of love is the way forward: Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi thanked the people of Gujarat for the love they had shown him a day after the state announced its election verdict.

In the 182-seat Assembly, the BJP won 99, while the Congress won 80 in a closely fought battle.

“The people of Gujarat have shown me a lot of love. The biggest gain the Congress party gets from this is that when there is anger and hate, you can always topple it with love,” he said.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that he had a credibility problem. “

On Monday, the Congress president tweeted how he felt about the verdict. "The Congress party accepts the verdict of the people and congratulates the new governments in both states. I thank the people of Gujarat and Himachal with all my heart for the love they showed me. My Congress brothers and sisters, you have made me very proud. You are different than those you fought because you fought anger with dignity. You have demonstrated to everyone that the Congress’s greatest strength is its decency and courage."

Earlier on Tuesday, the Shiv Sena issued a warning to the BJP on the Gujarat verdict. "The BJP won in Gujarat and Himachal, but the Congress was not defeated and the dream of a Congress-mukt Hindustan was not realised, this is a final message to people who think their word is the law. The Gujarat model has been shaken to its roots, We sincerely hope it does no collapse in 2019," said an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.

The editorial said while the BJP had won, the discussions centered around Rahul Gandhi's leap which denoted its position as a strong opposition party. The Shiv Sena also scoffed at BJP president Amit Shah's claim that the party would garner 150 assembly seats in Gujarat, when in reality it's tally had failed to even touch three digits.

"If the result is to be explained in one line, the winds have not changed but have slowed down. The wave has receded," the editorial said.