A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called H.D. Kumaraswamy a “remote-controlled Chief Minister” at a public rally in Kalaburagi, Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge hit back on Thursday by calling it an attempt to instigate alliance partners against each other.
At an interaction with mediapersons here, he said Mr. Modi’s own remote control was in Nagpur, implying that he was being controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, headquartered in the Maharashtra city.
Coordination committee chairperson and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had expressed similar views on Wednesday.
“It is Mr. Modi’s attempt to destabilise the government by instigating alliance partners against each other. The fact is that Modi’s remote control is in Nagpur. He follows what Nagpur dictates him to do — talking of changing the Constitution, implementing anti-people policies, and weakening people’s economic stability. Ours is a coalition government that is functioning as per mutual discussion and understating,” he said.
‘Won’t comment on Jadhav’
When asked about Umesh Jadhav, the Congress MLA for Chincholi who after submitting his resignation to the Speaker joined the BJP at Mr. Modi’s public rally in Kalaburagi on Wednesday, Mr. Kharge said, “It is a democracy and everybody has a right to join the party of his interest and follow the ideology he likes. I don’t want to say anything more about it”.