BIDAR: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday expressed his concern over leaders from Congress and constituents of INDIA bloc joining NDA constituents and BJP, despite enjoying power including that of ministers and chief minister.
Launching the Lok Sabha election campaign in the Kalyana Karnataka region from Bidar, his birthplace, Kharge said these leaders are joining NDA either because of threats or they want to continue in power. He wondered how even a senior leader like HD Deve Gowda, who is 92 and advocated secularism all his life, has now become a part of NDA.
Kharge said he knew full well that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP have hatched a plot to weaken opposition parties by using democratically set up institutions like the Enforcement Directorate, income tax department and Election Commission. A few days ago at a meeting in New Delhi, Kharge asked Modi what medicine he is giving leaders to attract them to the BJP. Modi, with a smile, told him what could he do if leaders from other parties are joining BJP and NDA voluntarily, Kharge narrated.
In fact, BJP, RSS and Modi are giving tablets of threats of income tax and ED raids. This fear is forcing prominent leaders from opposition parties to join NDA, he alleged. Kharge said the PM, despite terming Congress a “zero party”, is after leaders of opposition parties to join NDA because he knows that zero can become a hero anytime.
He said, “It is necessary for us, who want to protect democracy and the Constitution, to be united and face all threats and to get to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”
He told the people that they will not do any favour by electing Congress to power, but will be doing it to protect democracy and the Constitution.
At a felicitation programme organised by 17 different organisations and few public representatives here to celebrate his 50 years of political life and decennial celebration of bringing Amendment to Article 371 J for Kalyana Karnataka region, Kharge blamed BJP for mixing religion and politics. “If they want to preach religion, they should do it at home or temples. Religion should not be mixed with politics. You can fool some people some time, but not all of them all the time,” he said.
Kharge said he contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 only after getting an assurance from party senior leader Sonia Gandhi that if Congress comes back to power, it would amend Article 371 J. “We took a lot of trouble to bring in the Amendment. Sonia Gandhi herself spoke with leaders of many parties to get the amendment passed unanimously in Parliament,” he recalled.