Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has said that instead of worrying about the selection of Congress candidates, the BJP leaders should focus on resolving the internal conflicts and issues of rebellion within the saffron party.
Addressing presspersons at his residence here on Wednesday, Mr. Kharge said that Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra should bother about internal rifts in their own party instead of worrying about All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge staying off electoral battles.
Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge is INDI Alliance’s chairman and he has got great responsibilities to tour and campaign, not only for the Congress candidates but also of other political allies across the nation. So Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge will not be contesting the Lok Sabha polls this time, he clarified.
The BJP is facing the pinch of rebellion in Shivamogga with senior BJP leaders K.S. Eshwarappa, Anantkumar Hegde and Sadananda Gowda criticising the party saying that it has become a part of one family. The BJP workers have launched a “Go Back” campaign against their own leaders for fielding an outsider. Mr. Ashok and Mr. Vijayendra should fix their own party issues instead of bothering about the Congress, the Minister said.
Mr. Kharge said that even if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah campaign for Janata Dal (Secular) candidature in Mandya Lok Sabha Constituency, Congress candidate ‘Star’ Chandru (Venkataramane Gowda) will emerge victorious. The Minister said that the BJP and JD(S) alliance has made Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh a scapegoat.
Mr. Kharge also criticised the Selection Committee for appointing two Election Commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, recently.
The Minister quipped that there is no Modi wave in the South Indian States. The Congress has planned for the next 20 years and keeping this in mind, the party has selected its candidates, he added.
