New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying that the citizens will “find” him even if he “tries to hide underground”.
Kharge made the remarks while speaking at the INDIA bloc’s ‘Dilli Chalo’ rally, held to demand the resignation of the CEC over alleged electoral irregularities, at the Ramlila Maidan here.
Addressing a gathering, the Congress chief called it a “historic meeting”.
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of “attempting to snatch” the votes of the youth, women, and minorities.
“We have gathered here to ensure the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar. We won’t settle down until he resigns and will keep on fighting,” he said while accusing the Prime Minister and Home Minister of “attempting to protect” the CEC.
“Even if he tries to hide underground, we will bring him out from there. Our youth and women possess that strength,” the Congress chief remarked.
Directly addressing PM Modi, Kharge said: “Don’t be under the assumption that all work is done by your police. We are not going to be afraid of ED, CBI and other government agencies used by you; instead, all of us at INDIA bloc will keep on fighting.”
He further alleged: “Prime Minister Modi is attempting to create divisions among the public and snatch their votes. He himself chooses who will vote for him rather than being elected by the people.’
“Whether it is the Central government or governments of Maharashtra, Bihar or UP, all these came to power by vote theft, and we will drive out these thieves,” he remarked.
“The democracy will be saved only after PM Modi is removed from power. So, I will only say ‘Modi ko hatao, Loktantra Bachao’,” Kharge added.
Earlier on Sunday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the INDIA bloc’s protest was about safeguarding the constitutional rights of citizens and not about any political party, as Opposition leaders gathered at the Ramlila Maidan to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“This is not about parties, this is not about Congress, this is about the very simple message that the constitutional rights of the Indian people should not be taken away by the Election Commission. What they did was simply wrong; you cannot cut 130 million voters. This is not acceptable; what we need is an absolutely clean election register,” Tharoor said while on his way to the rally.
“We are trying to safeguard the constitutional rights of the people of the country,” he added.
–IANS
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