Karnataka BJP candidate plots to kill Congress chief Kharge: Congress

Bengaluru: The Congress on Saturday alleged that a BJP candidate in Karnataka is hatching an assassination plot to wipe out Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his entire family.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, the party general secretary and Karnataka in-charge, made the allegations in the thick of the ongoing campaign in Karnataka for assembly polls, NDTV reported.

Manikanta Rathod, the BJP candidate for Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district, is heard saying ‘wipe out Kharge, his wife and children’ in an audio clip played to a press meet by Surjewala.

‘Intimidated by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing Karnataka election, the BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Sri Mallikarjun Kharge as also his family members,’ Surjewala reportedly said.

Calling Rathod a ‘blue-eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said that audio clip showed the lowest political discourse that anyone can stoop to.

Surjewala said that PM Modi and Karnataka police will remain silent on the threat added that but people of Karnataka will give a befitting reply.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai offered to prove the allegations, saying that ‘law will take its action’.

Meanwhile, Rathod denied the charge saying that the audio was fabricated by the Congress to malign him.

‘It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is levelling baseless allegations fearing defeat,’ he was quoted as saying.