In a scathing attack on the BJP, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said Karnataka and by extension India cannot make progress without getting rid of the ruling party's "loot, lies, ego and hatred".

Making her maiden entry into the 2023 Karnataka Assembly poll battle, Sonia also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by her son Rahul Gandhi was against those spreading hatred. "This was the reason that lakhs of people joined Rahul Gandhi's 4,000 km march".

"Neither Karnataka nor India can make progress without getting rid of the atmosphere of BJP's loot, lies, ego and hatred," Gandhi said in her first public rally in poll-bound Karnataka, which votes on May 10.

She said, "It is everyone's responsibility to strengthen our voice against this (BJP) government's 'dark rule'." She was flanked on the stage by Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar who recently quit BJP over the denial of ticket and joined the party.

The party has fielded Shettar, a six-time MLA, from Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, from where he had won the previous Assembly polls in 2018.

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