Mallikarjun Kharge says Modi ‘like a poisonous snake’, then clarifies; BJP hits back

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, April 27, 2023: Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “like a poisonous snake”, triggering sharp reactions from the BJP even as he sought to clarify that his remarks were against the BJP ideology, and it wasn’t a personal attack on any individual.

 

Addressing an election rally in Ron, in Gadag district, Kharge said in Kannada: “Modi is like a poisonous snake. Don’t try to lick this snake to check whether it is venomous or not. If you taste it, you are dead.”

 

#KarnatakaAssemblyElections2023 | PM Modi is like a ’poisonous snake’, you might think it’s poison or not. If you lick it, you’re dead...: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalaburagi pic.twitter.com/Bqi7zVFnO9

— ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2023

He later issued a clarification, saying he meant that the BJP was like a snake. “I did not call him (Modi) that. I have said earlier that I do not make personal attacks. What I said was that the (BJP) ideology was poisonous. If you support the ideology and want to taste it, death is certain,” he said, responding to media queries.

In a series of tweets, he also said that he was talking about the BJP’s “hate politics”. “My comments were not a personal attack on Prime Minister Modi or any other individual, but on the ideology represented by them,” he said, adding that the Congress’s fight “was not personal (but) an ideological battle”.

“My intention was not to hurt anyone’s feelings and if, knowingly or unknowingly, someone’s feelings were hurt, then it was never my intention,” he tweeted in Hindi.

The BJP lashed out at the Congress chief, accusing him of crossing the boundaries of civil discourse. Union Minister and BJP in-charge for Karnataka polls, Dharmendra Pradhan, said the Congress has a tendency to call Modi by various names.

“He might have used this abuse to please his political masters. Anyone with political experience does not use such words,” Pradhan told reporters. Modi, he said, had always shown respect towards Kharge.

While saying that there should always be arguments and counter-arguments in politics, Pradhan said: “But we expect everyone to keep this exchange within limits. Leaders of the party from which Kharge comes from sometimes call Modi ‘maut ka saudagar’, sometimes ‘Duryodhan’, sometimes ‘gutter ki keeda’, sometimes a ‘common chaiwala’. Using such words is not acceptable in a democracy,” he said.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said such statements reflected “Congress culture”. “Is it appropriate to use such words about the Prime Minister,” he said, adding that past comments about the PM had led to the decline of the Congress party.

Courtesy: Indian Express