Former Union minister Kharge, 77, submitted his nomination papers on Monday.

Congress’ Rajya Sabha candidate from Karnataka Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank received threat calls on Sunday, with the latter filing a complaint with the state police chief.

According to the complaint, Kharge received the call in the wee hours of Sunday on his landline while Priyank later got a call from a private number on his mobile phone. Priyank, also a Congress MLA, said in his complaint that the caller spoke in Hindi and English and used invective against his father Kharge. The caller reportedly spoke about the Rajya Sabha election and threatened Kharge.

Priyank lodged a complaint with the Director-General of Police Praveen Sood and former MLC Ramesh Babu shared a copy of the complaint on Twitter on Tuesday.

Former Union minister Kharge, 77, submitted his nomination papers on Monday. Kharge, who had been undefeated in polls since 1972, lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from his home region of Kalaburagi by BJP newcomer Umesh Jadhav.

Meanwhile, JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda has also filed his nomination as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday with Congress’s support. BJP, on the other hand, has chosen two low-profile candidates from the party cadre – Eranna Kadadi (54), and Ashok Gasti (55). Both filed nominations on Tuesday.

Legislators from the Karnataka assembly are due to elect four new members to the Rajya Sabha on June 19 – on account of the retirement of Prabhakar Kore (BJP), M V Rajeev Gowda and B K Hariprasad of the Congress, and real estate businessman Kupendra Reddy of the JDS.