Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi has sparked a controversy of massive proportions again by contradicting the official Congress stand on the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists, saying it was conducted properly in Karnataka.
The party, he said, is only opposed to the way SIR was conducted in Bengal, Bihar and other states. With Karnataka being the first state for which senior party leader Rahul Gandhi had flagged “vote theft”, his comments have delighted the BJP.
Contending that Congress leaders are “increasingly contradicting Rahul Gandhi’s anti-SIR stand”, the BJP, in a post on social media platform X, said, “Even Congress leaders recognise the need for a clean voter roll, exposing Rahul Gandhi’s anti-democratic politics”.
His comments also contradict the state Congress stand on the matter. “What is the basis, the foundation of democracy? Because the BJP does not have a base here, the voter list is itself is a foundation of democracy, and they have deleted almost 1 crore votes in Karnataka, the largest (number of) voters,.
Earlier, state Congress chief BK Hariprasad said the SIR exercise was meant “entirely to uproot the democratic process”.
What will leave the Congress especially red-faced is the timing of Jarkiholi’s comments. The party is currently scaled up their campaign against SIR and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A massive rally has been planned for Sunday at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds which is expected to be a show of strength for the INDIA bloc. Jarkiholi has been known for his out-of turn-comments.
The 4.5-hour programme will be aired from social media accounts of the parties that are part of the bloc.
It will be preceded by another programme – “People’s Impeachment” of Gyanesh Kumar, that will be held at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s Delhi home. His comments on Congress ministers being honey-trapped or the origins of the word “Hindu” have sparked huge controversies and played into the hands of the BJP.
A Siddaramaiah loyalist, he had made headlines for wrong reasons earlier as well.
