BHUBANESWAR: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said the 2024 elections will be the last chance for people to save democracy in the country as Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not hold polls any more if BJP wins.
“You will have to make the choice between saving democracy and living under a dictatorship as PM Narendra Modi will not hold elections if he wins the poll,” Kharge said while addressing the Odisha Bachao Samabesh organised by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) here.
Kharge lashed out at the Centre for using CBI and ED to intimidate leaders of Opposition political parties many of whom he said quit their parties or resigned from alliances out of fear.
He said one such leader quit recently. “Itna darpok (such a coward),” he said referring to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who in yet another about-turn joined the NDA. Kharge claimed it will not have any impact on the polls. “One person quitting the Mahagathbandhan will not weaken us. We will defeat BJP,” he said.
Describing BJP and RSS as poison, Kharge advised people to keep away from the outfits. “Don’t even try to taste them because the poison will kill you,” he said while accusing the PM and the BJP of spreading hatred. “Congress has opened ‘Mohhabat ki dukan’ but the BJP and RSS believe in ‘Nafrat ki dukan,” he added.
The Congress president also mounted a scathing attack on BJD and BJP accusing them of colluding to loot Odisha and oppress the people of the state. He claimed BJP and BJD have solemnised ‘love marriage’, and the two political parties have been romancing for a long time with an aim to loot and ruin the state.
Criticising Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for siding with the BJP, Kharge said his father Biju Patnaik was a friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and both worked for development of the country and believed in the same ideology, he added. The present Patnaik (Naveen), he said, has strong links with the BJP and adopted its philosophy which is based on hatred.
The Congress chief said every big project including Paradip port, Rourkela Steel Plant, Naval Academy at Chilika, Mancheswar rail coach and ordnance factory was implemented when the grand old party was in power in Odisha. What have the BJP and BJD done for Odisha, he asked.
Kharge also targeted 5T chairman VK Pandian and asked whether the state does not have any capable and efficient leader and someone has to be brought from outside as advisor.