Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday launched a direct attack on the central government on various issues and said that if the opposition ‘India’ (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) had won 20 more seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have been in jail. The BJP hit back at Kharge and alleged that his remarks were a clear example of the Congress’ “emergency mentality”. Kharge, without naming anyone, said during an election rally in Anantnag, “They (BJP) used to say 400 paar, 400 paar. Where did your 400 paar go? They got only 240 seats. If we had won 20 more seats, they would have been in jail. They deserve to be in jail.” “Abki baar 400 paar” was the slogan of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP got 240 seats in the elections, while ‘India’ including the Congress got 234 seats. When Kharge was questioned about this in a press conference in Srinagar, he stood by his comment.
Shahzad Poonawala reacted to Kharge’s statement
Reacting to Kharge’s statement, BJP spokesperson Shahzad Poonawala wrote on ‘X’, “This is a clear example of Congress’s ’emergency’ mentality. Indira Gandhi had imposed emergency and put opposition leaders in jail. Congress wants to continue that legacy.” Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed emergency on 25 June 1975 which continued for 21 months. Kharge said in a press conference in Srinagar that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should stop trying to break political parties and alliances opposing it, as it (BJP) has a minority government at the Center which is dependent on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal-United (JDU) for its survival. Kharge said, “Congress and National Conference (NC) are fighting elections together (in Jammu and Kashmir), which has frightened the BJP. Now they are trying to break the alliance.”
BJP is fielding private players
He said that they (BJP) are fielding private players in an attempt to defeat Congress-NC candidates and are indirectly supporting them as independents. He indicated that these independent candidates are getting money from the BJP. Kharge said, “BJP, stop doing this now. Your government has more than 200 MPs, not 400. This is a minority government. (Chandrababu) Naidu (TDP) can withdraw support anytime; Nitish Kumar (JD-U) can come out (from the alliance) anytime. You have given one hand to someone else and one leg to someone else. You should proceed with caution. The Congress president appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to elect a strong government with a huge majority that can solve their problems.
“BJP will topple the government through horse-trading”
He said, “If you elect a government (with a marginal majority), then BJP will topple the government overnight through horse-trading (of MLAs). This happened in my state Karnataka. They bought 16 people (MLAs). In Maharashtra, they broke the Shiv Sena and (NCP) Nationalist Congress Party to form the government. This (BJP government) is a ‘torture-torture government’.” Launching a scathing attack on the central government, Kharge alleged that Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are making false promises. He said, “They had promised to give five lakh jobs. There are one lakh vacancies in government posts in Jammu and Kashmir. Why were these not filled?” the Congress chief alleged that unemployment and inflation were rising but the BJP was giving resources, including minerals, to its select people, leaving local people poor.