Mallikarjun Kharge was elected Congress president last year.
Bengaluru:
Party General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday made a sensational allegation that a BJP candidate has hatched a conspiracy to wipe out Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and their entire family. ruling party.
The Congress leader, days ahead of next week’s election, played an audio recording at a press conference in which Manikant Rathore, the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district, is purportedly heard saying in Kannada that “Kharge, Will wipe out his wife and his wife.” Children”.
Surjewala alleged, “Feared by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas on the Congress party and facing complete defeat in the upcoming Karnataka elections, BJP leaders are now conspiring to murder Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge and his family members.” ,
He said that this is “the lowest political discourse one can stoop to” and that “murder conspiracies have entered Karnataka’s electoral discourse”. He also claimed that Mr Rathod was the “blue-eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai”.
Surjewala said, “I know the Prime Minister will remain silent and so will the Karnataka Police and the Election Commission of India. But the people of Karnataka will not remain silent and will give a befitting reply.”
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai promised to investigate the allegations, saying, “We will take the matter seriously. We will investigate the entire matter and the law will take its course.”
Mr Rathore denied the allegation and said the audio was fake and fabricated by the Congress to defame him. He said he had no intention of harming Mr Kharge or his family and was confident of winning the election.
“It is all lies. They are playing some fake audio. Congress is making baseless allegations out of fear of defeat,” he said.
The BJP leader was arrested on November 13, 2022 in Chittapur for allegedly threatening to kill Congress candidate Priyank Kharge and later release on bail. Then in a press conference, he had said that he was ready to fire Priyank Kharge.