Karnataka Polls: BJP Slams Congress, Says Star Campaigner Imran Pratapgarhi Considered Atiq-Ashraf 'Guru'

Karnataka Elections 2023: BJP slammed Congress for naming Imran Pratapgarhi as one of its star campaigners saying that he was friends with recently murdered gangster brothers -Atiq and Ashraf.

Karnataka Elections 2023: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Thursday slammed Congress for naming Imran Pratapgarhi as one of its star campaigners for the upcoming assembly polls in the state. BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje alleged that Pratapgarhi was friends with recently murdered gangster brothers - Atiq and Ashraf Ahmed. She said that he used to call them 'brothers' and considered them 'guru'. Karandlaje accused the Congress party of supporting 'criminals' and 'anti-nationals'.

"Gangster Atiq Ahmed & Ashraf were his (Imran Pratapgarhi) friends. Imran used to call them brothers, he considered them guru... Congress has kept him on the list of star campaigners for Karnataka polls, which shows Congress is in support of criminals and anti-nationals," she said.

Notably, the Congress on Wednesday released the list of star campaigners for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections on May 10. Party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, party MP Shashi Tharoor are among the ones who will be campaigning in the poll-bound state. The list has a total of 40 names who will be campaigning for the state.

The list also has names of other Congress hotshots including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Karnataka party chief DK Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah, AICC in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh counterparts Bhupesh Baghel and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, apart from others. However, the name of Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who was on the list of star campaigners for the 2018 Karnataka polls, was dropped from the list.

Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, D K Suresh, G C Chandrashekhar, Syed Naseer Hussain, Zameer Ahmed Khan, H M Revanna, Umashree, Revanth Reddy, Ramesh Chennithala, Srinivas B V, Raj Babbar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Divya Spandana, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rupa Shashidhar and Sadhukokila are also on the list.

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its list of star campaigners, that had the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a strong team of Union Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya and Pralhad Joshi.

Apart from UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Madhya Pradesh and Assam counterparts Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadvavis are also among the BJP star campaigners.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka BJP strongman BS Yediyurappa, former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, some Karnataka ministers and state party leaders also figure in the list.