The resounding victory of the Congress in Karnataka has boosted the morale of the party workers in Jharkhand where both the general election and Assembly polls will be held next year, several leaders said on Sunday.

They added that the party members would now work for facing those elections with renewed vigour.

“We had an opportunity to join Rahulji at two places during his Bharat Jodo Yatra that also passed through Karnataka and could realise that a change was setting in,” said Jharkhand minister and Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, adding that it would also have an impact elsewhere in the country.

State Congress president Rajesh Thakur felt that the idea to “open a shop oflove in the market of hate” got a warm response from people from across the country and that would also help them accomplish their Mission 2024.

“The Karnataka polls have proved that Bajrangbali and Bajrang Dal are not the same,” he said, adding that people could no longer be fooled by those taking the names of Gods.

“Chalis (40) per cent commission ka paap, (Hanuman) Chalisa ka path se nahi mitta hai (the sin of taking cut-money can’t be erased by reciting sacred hymns),” Thakur said, emphasising that the issue of corruption was also a key factor in Karnataka polls.

These, coupled with the work done by the party workers, will help Congress that had bagged 16 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly last time face the next elections successfully, he felt.

They have already enrolled over 8 lakh new members and revamped the organisation set-up up to block level.

The revamp will be widened to the gram panchayat level within the next three to four months, Thakur said, asked if the Karnataka poll results alone could help them.

Thakur added that their office bearers had also already started touring the countryside for strengthening the party’s organisation at the grassroots level.

“We have also taken up public issues,” he pointed out, adding that the state government passed favourable resolutions for the implementation of enhanced reservation for STs and OBCs and the Sarna code but their move was stalled by the Centre.

Besides having a motivational impact on Congress workers, the results of the Karnataka elections have also proved that communal politics doesn’t help in thelong run, said Mahagama Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh.

“The poll results have instilled in voters across the country a sense of confidence that they can change a government if they consider price rise, corruption and crime against women as serious issues,” she added.