New Delhi: Congress MP Randeep Surjewala lashed out at BJP MLA Madan Dilawar over his recent remarks against Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and said the BJP leader’s hatred for Kharge is “disgusting and filthy”. “BJP leaders' hatred for the tallest SC leader in recent history of Karnataka, their hatred…to abuse the tallest son of soil of Karnataka is disgusting, filthy, nauseating, unacceptable and reprehensible,” news agency ANI quoted Surjewala as saying.
His comments come in response to BJP MLA Madan Dilawar’s remarks. Dilawar, as quoted by ANI, said, “Mallikarjun Kharge is 80 years old. God can take him away anytime. But I will pray that he lives for 200 years.”
This comes close in the heels of Kharge’s remarks against PM Narendra Modi that stoked a row between the political parties. "PM Modi is like a 'poisonous snake'. You may be wondering whether think it’s poison or not. But if you lick it, you’re dead," Mallikarjun Kharge had said while campaigning in Kalaburagi.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India asked political parties in Karnataka to "exercise caution and restraint in their utterances" ahead of the state elections, amid several instances of name calling and abuses by rival parties over the last few days.
Reacting to Kharge’s ‘poisonous snake’ remark, senior BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal called former Congress president Sonia Gandhi a "vishkanya" and an "agent of Pakistan and China". "If Kharge compares Modi to a venomous snake, is their leader Sonia Gandhi a vishkanya? Sonia Gandhi is an agent of China and Pakistan," Yatnal had said.
Earlier this week, Congress leader Priyank Kharge, the son of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, called PM Modi a 'nalayak'. However, the Congress denied such allegations and said he never made such remarks.