Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the ongoing Lok Sabha election very important, saying it is not to humiliate any person but to showcase the democracy of the country, to save the Constitution, and to fight for rising inflation and unemployment.
"This election is very important. It is not an election to humiliate any person. This election is to showcase the democracy of the country. This election is to save the Constitution and fight for rising inflation and unemployment. But the people of the government, especially Modi, always say that Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas. There was no development, everything was destroyed. GST is imposed on farmers and on food and drinks. He told the youth that he would provide two crore jobs. Farmers were promised to double their income. Nothing was implemented," Mallikarjun Kharge said while addressing a press conference in Guwahati today.
He also took his attack to the BJP camp, saying that the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent.
"He (PM Modi) did not implement even one of what he said (electoral promises). Still, he says that Modi did a lot of work for the country. Congress is a party of those who made India independent. The BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. We built this country. They (the BJP) speak so much about patriotism that Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Lal Bahadur Shastri are nothing before them-Modi is everything. They even try to give the impression that India attained independence after 2014 and the country was not independent before that-all of these are reflected in his words," Kharge said.
On the Congress leaders who deserted the party and later joined the BJP, Kharge questioned that if Congress was so bad, then why had they spent 30-40 years of their lives in this party? "What is sad is that those who were nurtured by the Congress party and became leaders also say the same. I don't know what has happened to them, but they too criticise Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi," he added.
In an apparent reference to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge claimed that Congress is not affected by people who "grew up in the party and left it later."
"Congress is like a flowing river like the Ganga; it is not affected by a few people leaving it," he asserted.
Reacting to Himanta Biswa Sarma's remarks that "if the Congress president wants, he can also join the BJP," Kharge said, "I am the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, and my opponent is Modi and not the CM of here. So, I will speak to Modi and let him (Assam CM) face our people here."
Kharge claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are "put on the lap" and sent to the Rajya Sabha, or Assembly.
Further, lashing out at PM Modi over his "tight slap" remark after the Supreme Court rejected requests for 100 percent VVPAT verification of votes punched into EVMs, Kharge said that it is a habit of Modi to say such things.
About the prestigious Amethi and Raebareli seats in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "You have to wait for a few more days... When the names of candidates come from people to me and I sign the notification, it will be announced."
"Those questioning Congress leaders for changing constituencies must also tell me how many times (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee and (Lal Krishna) Advani changed their seats," Kharge said when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala's Wayanad, instead of Amethi.
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