Amidst shadow boxing in Congress over conducting the 75th birthday of Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge has asked his followers not to celebrate his birthday.
Mr. Kharge will turn 80 on Thursday and has completed 50 years in public life since he won his first election. “Instead of celebrating my birthday, I urge you to take up tasks that strengthen the philosophies of Buddha-Basava-Ambedkar and those tasks that strengthen the ideals of the Constitution,” Mr. Kharge said in a statement.
In the last few weeks, Congress rank and file has been divided over celebrating Mr. Siddaramaiah’s brithday (described as ‘Siddaramotsava’ in some quarters) in a big way as some leaders have expressed fear that the event could divide the leaders and workers in the party over the Chief Minister candidate from the Congress during the Assembly election.
Mr. Kharge’s open appeal to his followers comes close on the heels of KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar refusing to celebrate his birthday recently in a grand fashion even as he is learnt to be not happy about ‘Siddaramotsava.’ Mr. Shivakumar has maintained that the party should come first over individuals.
Thanking his followers for keeping faith and showering love on him, Mr. Kharge said that it becomes his duty to remain with the AICC president Sonia Gandhi, who has been asked to appear before the ED on Thursday. “The Parliament session is also underway. It is a litmus test that the Union government has posed by asking Ms. Gandhi to appear before the ED, who has been a symbol of sacrifice. Hence I will not be in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi. I will meet you after the Parliament session comes to an end.”
