Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi categorically said on Tuesday that the decision on whether to induct new parties in the INDIA bloc to achieve the majority, required to form a government at the Centre, will be taken at the alliance’s meeting on Wednesday.

They claimed that the mandate of the Lok Sabha elections was against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a joint press conference along with Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at the party headquarters, Kharge said, “This election result is the victory of the people and democracy. We humbly accept the public mandate. This time, the public has not given a clear majority to any one party, especially the ruling party BJP.”

He said, “The BJP has sought votes on one person and one face (Modi), but now it is clear that the mandate has gone against Narendra Modi. This is a huge defeat for them, morally and politically. From a moral point of view, they have suffered a huge loss.”

Pointing out that the Congress and the parties of the INDIA bloc fought the elections in an adverse environment, the Congress chief said, “We contested elections on issues related to the public like inflation and unemployment etc. The public connected with these issues and supported us.”

Stating that the kind of campaign that was carried out by Modi during the elections will be remembered in history, he said, “The public understood the lie that Narendra Modi spread about the Congress manifesto.”

“Our fight has not yet reached its end. In the coming days, we all will have to protect the rights of the people, the Constitution, and democracy,” Kharge said.

Asked whether his party would stake claim to form government at the Centre, he said, “Till we don’t talk to our alliance partners and the new partners who are going to ally with us. We will talk to them about how we can make a majority.”

Echoing similar views, Rahul Gandhi said, “The country has clearly and unanimously stated we do not want Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Amit Shah to be involved in the running of this country. We don’t like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution. We do not appreciate the way they have run this country in the last 10 years. It’s a huge message to Narendra Modi.”

On being asked about whether the INDIA bloc will stake claim to form the government or it will sit in the Opposition, he said, “As we have said earlier, we are going to have a meeting with our partners, the INDIA alliance partners, that meeting is tomorrow and these questions will be raised there and there will be answers there. We respect our alliance partners. We are not going to make statements in the press without asking them their opinion.”

Conveying gratitude to everyone who participated in the election, the Congress leader said, “I am extremely proud of the people of India. I am extremely proud of the people who have resisted this onslaught on the Constitution.”

Referring to the Congress manifesto, he said, “I want to tell the people of the country we will fulfill all the promises we made, including the caste census and Mahalakshmi scheme.”