Bengaluru: An assassination plot has been hatched to “wipe out” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and their entire family, alleged Congress general secretary and party’s Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday. The ruling BJP has rejected the charges.
The Congress leader played an audio recording at a press conference a few days before next week’s election. In the video, BJP’s candidate from Chittapur assembly constituency in Kalaburagi district, Manikant Rathod, is purportedly heard saying in Kannada that he will “wipe out Kharge, his wife and children”.
“Scared of the all-round blessings of Kannadigas on the Congress party and seeing the defeat in the upcoming Karnataka elections, BJP leaders are now conspiring to kill Mallikarjun Kharge and his family members,” Surjewala alleged.
He said it was “the most degraded political speech” and “murder conspiracies have appeared in Karnataka’s election speeches”, adding that Rathore was “the most favourite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai”.
Surjewala said, “I know the Prime Minister will remain silent and the Karnataka Police and the Election Commission of India will also remain silent. But the people of Karnataka will not remain silent and will give a befitting reply.”
Promising an inquiry into the allegations, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “We will take the matter seriously. We will investigate the whole matter and the law will take its own action.”