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Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s 20 seats away from sending them to jail remark drew flak from the BJP. (Image: File Photo)
The Congress national president was campaigning for the Congress-NC alliance in Anantnag and made the comments at a rally there.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday saying that they were 20 seats away from sending BJP leaders to jail.
Kharge was referencing the INDIA bloc’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year where they won 234 seats. He also took a jibe at the BJP over it not winning 400 seats despite campaigning on that plank.
“Where did those who crossed 400 go? They got reduced to 240 seats. If we had got 20 more seats, all these people would have been in jail. These people deserve to be in jail,” Kharge said at the rally in Anantnag.
The remark drew flak from the BJP which said that the comments are a reminder of Congress’ dictatorial mentality and said that they were the ones who declared Emergency in the mid-70s.
“This is an example of Congress’ ‘Emergency’ mindset. He wants to put leaders in opposition in jail, Indira Gandhi put people in jail and Congress wants to continue that legacy. They do not say anything when the Trinamool Congress behaves dictatorially in Bengal and yet calls other parties dictatorial,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla aka Shehzad Jai Hind said.
Poonawalla also said that Kharge earlier said that if Congress wins in Kashmir it would exert control over the entire India. “Jammu & Kashmir ka chunao agar hum jeetenge, toh saara Hindustan hamare kabze mein hoga (If we win Jammu and Kashmir elections, then entire India will be under our control),” Kharge had said during an earlier visit to the state.
Kharge at Anantnag said that BJP ‘panicked’ when it heard that the National Conference (NC) and Congress are fighting the Kashmir polls together.
“As Rahul Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah have united, the BJP is now nervous and scared,” Kharge said.
Jammu and Kashmir’s 90-seat Assembly will see voting in three phases – September 18, September 25 and November 5. The election results will be declared on November 8.
