Mallikarjun Kharge Congress chief in name: PM Modi in Karnataka

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked Karnataka’s pride in the election-bound state as he launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Congress for “repeatedly insulting state’s stalwarts from S Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil to Mallikarjun Kharge”.

Cong chief hits back, reiterates jpc demand

Under whose umbrella did your best friend loot everything? The Congress stands in the shade of the Tricolour. The party, which secured Independence, will never allow the country to become a company raj again. When will the JPC on Adani be constituted? — Mallikarjun Kharge, Cong Chief

Moments after releasing Rs 16,000 crore as part of the 13th instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Belagavi today, the PM recalled the past, saying “the Congress starts insulting every leader who falls out of favour of a particular family (read Gandhis)”.

“The Congress hates Karnataka. Insulting Karnataka leaders is part of Congress’ culture. It starts insulting leaders who fall out of favour with a particular family. History is witness to this. Stalwarts such as Nijalingappa and Patil were insulted to curry favours with the family. Today again, another Karnataka leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been insulted in front of the Congress family.”

Citing an instance from the just concluded AICC plenary session in Raipur, PM Modi said that while Kharge, the Congress chief, the party’s oldest and senior-most leader, kept standing in scorching heat, an umbrella was reserved for someone else.

The PM’s jibe was meant for the Gandhis.

“This son of the soil (Kharge) has spent 50 years in politics. I respect him a lot…He is the party president on paper only. The treatment being meted out to him shows who wields the remote control,” said the PM, attacking dynasties and noting that several parties in the country remained trapped in the stranglehold of family politics.

Nijalingappa was the Congress president when the party’s working committee expelled then PM Indira Gandhi from Congress’ primary membership in 1969 for “promoting a personality cult”. This led to a split in the Congress.

PM Modi emphasised the importance of good governance for walking the last mile while mentioning the backwardness among “Pasmanda Muslims” and highlighted his government’s efforts to reach out to the most deprived sections of society.

Modi walks hand in hand with BSY

PM Modi walked hand in hand with former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa upon his arrival in Shivamogga, a segment BSY represented in Lok Sabha. The gesture signalled Yediyurappa’s indispensability to BJP’s strategy in the state, where the party has set a target of winning at least 120 seats in the 224-member House.