Unleashing a verbal attack on All India Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a venomous snake, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held that insult to the Prime Minister was an insult to India and called upon people not to accept the person who insults India.
“You saw how Mr. Kharge criticised Mr. Modi three days ago. Does it befit Kharge to talk like this at this age? It shows that the Congress is going to be defeated [in the 2023 Assembly elections in the State] and the deposit of his son [Priyank Kharge, the Congress candidate for Chittapur] is going to be forfeited. It shows that just as Mr. Kharge was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections by a huge margin, his son would also be defeated in the Assembly elections by a huge margin by BJP candidate Manikanth Rathod,” Mr. Adityanath said at a public meeting at Wadi in Chittapur constituency, Kalaburagi district.
He further added, “The insult to the Prime Minister would amount to an insult to the nation. Despite being the president of the Congress, Mr. Kharge criticised the PM and it is an insult to India and its 140 crore people. We should not accept a person who insults India.”
He was in town to campaign for BJP candidate from the constituency Manikanth Rathod, a history-sheeter who has 40 criminal cases against him. Mr. Kharge’s son and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson Priyank Kharge is the Congress candidate.
“BJP has chosen Manikanth Rathod as its candidate for your constituency. He is a young candidate of just 25-26 years of age and if elected, he would be the youngest MLA of Karnataka. When a young man gets elected, he will work for the youth, the protection of women and the beautification of the constituency,” Mr. Adityanath said.
Mr. Adityanath also invited the people to come to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh for the inauguration of the Ram Temple in January 2024.
MLCs B.G. Patil and N. Ravikumar, BJP candidate Manikanth Rathod and other party leaders were present.