KALABURAGI : Congress leader Priyank Kharge on Monday accused BJP candidate for Gulbarga Umesh Jadhav of practising nepotism, by fielding his son from the Chincholi assembly segment. Jadhav, previously the Congress MLA for Chincholi, vacated the seat to contest against Congress strongman Mallikarjun Kharge in Gulbarga on a BJP ticket. 

Interestingly, just before the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was making the same allegations against the Congress, accusing Mallikarjun Kharge of promoting his son Priyank. Jadhav’s son Avinash will be fighting for the assembly seat against Subhash Rathod of the Congress. “For the first time in the history of Kalaburagi, an MLA has quit the post and disrespected the voters, due to his lust for money and power,” Priyank Kharge charged, while speaking after Rathod filed his nomination on Monday. 

Tearing into Jadhav’s decision, he said that Chincholi voters were not consulted before he shifted parties and that the voters should teach Avinash a lesson in the upcoming bypolls. “For Umesh Jadhav, the meaning of democracy is for the money, by the money and of the money,” Priyank said.

Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, who was also present, termed Jadhav a ‘saleable object’Former minister Dr. Sharanprakash Patil said that the bypolls had been necessitated only because the BJP had purchased Umesh Jadhav. “They attacked the Congress and said that we promoted dynasty rule, what are they doing now?” Patil questioned.  

‘he quit for a cause’ 
BJP leader Somanna came to Jadhav’s defence and said the MLA had quit the coalition as work in his constituency had come to a standstill. “He showed the government that represen-tatives sent 
to the assembly by Chincholi will not stay quiet when their constituency is spoke of with disrespect,” 
he said.