BELAGAVI: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit out at the Union Government accusing it for troubling Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi needlessly over his statement on harassment of women made 46 days ago during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir.
Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge in Hindi said, “Modiji, aap koshish karo hame mitti me dabaneki, lekin hum beej hain baar baar ugte rehte hain. (Mr Modi, you try pressing us under the soil, but we will continue to sprout like a seed every time).”
Addressing the Congress’ Yuva Kranti rally in Belagavi on Monday, Kharge challenged the Centre to put the Congress leaders in jail while criticising the way the police came to the doors of Rahul in New Delhi to question him.
He said that the Centre cannot scare the Congress leaders through the Directorate of Enforcement, CBI or other Central agencies. “If you want to put us (Congress leaders) in jail, do it. We are ready for everything. Rahul Gandhi, most of all, will never be scared of you,’’ he added.
“In Karnataka, the contractors association wrote to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah complaining that the State Government is demanding 40% commission for works. There is proof for it and why
are Central agencies not investigating the rampant corruption in Karnataka?
For all the works, the contractors are demanded huge money,’’ he alleged. Calling the Modi government full of lies, Kharge said when he and Rahul questioned the Central leadership about the Adani group in the Parliament, their speeches were removed from the records. “That is the state of democracy in the country where nobody is allowed to point out mistakes and question the government,” he said.
Remote control jibe
Taking a dig at the BJP leaders for saying that he was being remote-controlled by someone else, Mallikarjun Kharge shot back asking as to who was the remote control of BJP national president J P Nadda. “Who is controlling the BJP president?” he asked.