 "Kharge attacks Modi, says only his jacket is famous, he changes it 4 times")
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said only his "jacket" is famous and he changes it four times a day.
Raking up the issue of RSS and the BJP's "contribution" to India's independence, Kharge, who hails from this district, claimed that when the Congressmen were sacrificing their lives, RSS leaders were busy getting plum government posts.
"Modi keeps saying what the Congress has done in the last 70 years. Arre Bhai', if we hadn't done anything in 70 years, you would not have been the Prime Minister of this country. We brought independence. Mahatma Gandhi risked his life and gave us independence," the Rajya Sabha member said at a public meeting here ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka.
"Gandhi 'Topi' became famous because of Gandhi. Nehru shirt became famous because of Nehru. Only your (Modi's) jacket is famous. You wear four jackets daily red, yellow, blue and saffron. Now it is becoming famous as the 'Modi jacket'. Wherever he goes, only Modi-Modi'. Arre! Do good to this region and country. Will the country progress by abusing the Congress? Kharge asked.
He said the Congress asked Dr B R Ambedkar to write the Indian Constitution. It gave equal rights to people including voting rights. If Dalits, tribal people and other backward communities are becoming panchayat presidents, MLAs, MPs and ministers, it is due to the Constitution given to the nation by the Congress. It was not possible before 70 years, the Rajya Sabha member said.
"Neither the RSS nor the BJP fought for the independence of the country. It's we who fought for it. None of you (BJP/RSS) went to jail, none of your party men ever went to the gallows," Kharge alleged.
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The RSS had given instructions to its cadres that, "Let others fight for independence. Their cadres' focus should be on getting government jobs". All their cadres got jobs in government and military and went to those places where there was "good scope", Kharge claimed.
He charged that the MPs elected from Karnataka could not raise any issue pertaining to the State with the Prime Minister because they did not get a chance to meet him.
"Modi doesn't speak to them (MPs). It's like Door-Darshan Door Se Darshan' (glance from a distance). It's just like watching television," he alleged.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)