Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday targeted the BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the northeastern states of Tripura and Meghalaya gear up for state elections. Kharge lashed out at Shah a day after the Union Minister said in Tripura that Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be ready on January 1, 2024. “You are a politician not a pujari (priest)… your duty is to protect the country, providing the MSP (Minimum support Price) to farmers… and not make announcements on temple,” Kharge said amid the grand old party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana’s Panipat.
On Thursday, Shah had also hit out at the Congress during his address when he said that the rival party had been hindering the Ram Temple construction case in courts since independence. He further stressed that the Supreme Court verdict on the dispute in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya came under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s term. “The Ram Temple issue was being stalled by the Congress ever since the independence. It was after when PM Modi came to power that the Supreme Court gave its verdict and the construction of the temple began the same day following a ‘bhoomipujan (groundbreaking)’,” the Union Home Minister said.
However, on Friday, Kharge hit back, saying that the BJP “is busy in toppling the governments of Congress and claim that they have faith in democracy”. “They are the biggest liars. They came to power promising of two crore jobs…but nobody has got jobs. They failed to pay ₹15 lakh,” the Congress chief further stressed in reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll promise of ending corruption. The opposition has been accusing the BJP of trying to topple the elected non-BJP governments as part of what they call “Operation Lotus”.
“The BJP did not fight for the freedom of the country. The Prime minister leaves with 100 cars and the Home Minister leaves with 50 cars and we had to struggle to get clearance to reach our programmes,” he further said.
The frequency of the BJP and the Congress sparring is set to further increase with nine states set to go polls this year. The results will set the tone for national elections next year.