Bengaluru, Oct 26 — Karnataka Home, IT and BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday defended his father and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge over his controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the BJP of creating an issue out of a non-issue and selectively targeting the Congress leadership after themselves making derogatory remarks over the years against the Congress leadership.
Responding to the row, Priyank Kharge said the BJP should understand the context in which the remarks were made before criticising them.
He claimed that a BJP supporter had first challenged Mallikarjun Kharge, saying that nothing would happen to Modi and that neither Kharge nor his father could do anything to the Prime Minister, to which Kharge said, "Modi ka baap bhi jayega (Even PM Modi's father will have to go)."
“There was a gentleman who was a BJP supporter sitting there. He said nothing would happen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that neither you nor your father could do anything to him. There was a retort to that. All of you know how people speak in such situations in any language,” Priyank Kharge said.
He also accused the BJP of ignoring its own leaders' past remarks about Congress leaders while questioning the language used by the Congress leadership.
Priyank Kharge referred to remarks allegedly made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi and by Union Home Minister Amit Shah about late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He also cited the controversial descriptions of Sonia Gandhi as a “Jersey cow” and of Rahul Gandhi as a “hybrid calf” and "Pappu", questioning the BJP's claims of maintaining political decorum.
“Conveniently, these so-called cultured people forget what their own leaders have said. We need not learn culture from them,” he said, adding that repeated trolling and the filing of FIRs would not change the Congress party's position.
Questioning the BJP's nationwide protests over his father's remarks, Priyank Kharge alleged that the Opposition was attempting to divert attention from other pressing issues.
“They are holding nationwide protests. They want to divert attention from their favourite person, Election Commission's Chief Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Where is he hiding? They just want to create distractions from the current issues,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP staged a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Monday against Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks against the Prime Minister. The protest was organised under the leadership of Assembly Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka and Legislative Council Leader of the Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy.
BJP MPs, MLAs and MLCs participated in the demonstration, condemning the Congress President's remarks and demanding accountability for the language used against the Prime Minister.
The exchange has intensified the political confrontation between the Congress and the BJP, with both sides accusing each other of crossing the limits of political discourse.