Congress leaders on Friday hit-back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting the grand old party and its chief Mallikarjun Kharge over poll promises and said that ‘nobody in the party can lie like PM Modi’.

In a series of tweets, PM Modi said that Congress Party is realising the hard way that making unreal promises is easy but implementing them properly is tough or impossible.

Modi’s comment came after Kharge’s comments that the party’s state units should make promises that are properly budgeted and do not lead to financial troubles.

However, soon the Congress rejected the allegations and said that the government of India is not delivering what they promised. “They are blaming us for non-delivery. But on our part, we are delivering on our promises,” said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also tagged Modi and said that before pointing fingers at Congress, take a hard look at BJP’s disastrous legacy in Karnataka!

“We are fulfilling every promise we made to our people – all 5 guarantees implemented with a budget over ₹52,000 crore, and an additional ₹52,903 crore in capital outlay to build Karnataka’s future. And the irony? While Karnataka contributes significantly to the Union’s coffers, your government starves us of our rightful share to prevent us from implementing guarantee schemes.”

Siddaramaiah stated that for every rupee Karnataka gives, they only receive 13 paise back.

“This is not ‘cooperative federalism’; it’s outright exploitation. While Congress in Karnataka has delivered, BJP continues to fail Indians nationwide.”

Congress leader Udit Raj said that nobody in the party can lie like PM Modi.

“He had spoken about 2 crore jobs, about ₹15 Lakhs in accounts, about doubling of farmers’ income, about houses for everyone till 2022. He did not do anything but didn’t even apologise for it,” reported ANI quoting Udit Raj.
He further added that Kharge and Congress party have warned that we should promise only that much as much as it can be implemented. “They are liars. We speak the truth.”

Congress’ Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria on Monday said he has offered to resign from his post, taking moral responsibility for the party’s dismal performance in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state.

The announcement comes after the party held several meetings to discuss the party’s performance in the election and the reason behind the disappointing defeat.

“Last week, after the results, I offered to resign. I offered to the high command that you can replace me. My health is not well and also it is my moral responsibility in the wake of the results. Keeping that in mind, I had told this to the high command that ‘if you deem fit, you can replace me’,” Babaria told PTI.

“After the Lok Sabha polls also, I had offered to resign as in-charge of Delhi, but no decision has been taken on that. Similarly, no decision has been taken (for Haryana), but it was my responsibility to offer (to resign),” he said.

Last Thursday, the Congress top brass held a review meeting on the party’s shock defeat in the Haryana Assembly polls and decided to form a fact-finding team that would speak to all its candidates to find out the reasons for the debacle.

Sources said the leaders discussed the possible reasons for the “unexpected” results in Haryana during the meeting and decided to set up a team to ascertain the reasons behind such results and also investigate complaints of “discrepancies” in EVMs, as alleged by party candidates.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary organisation KC Venugopal, AICC senior observers for the polls Ashok Gehlot and Ajay Maken, and AICC secretaries for the state participated in the review meeting. AICC, in charge of Haryana Babaria, joined the meeting online.

Congress has also demanded a thorough probe into “discrepancies” found in some electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the vote in the Haryana polls and that such EVMs be sealed and secured pending the inquiry.

A delegation of top Congress leaders, comprising former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot and AICC leaders K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, and Pawan Khera, as well as Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan, met with top Election Commission officials on Wednesday.

The Congress leaders alleged that there are at least 20 such complaints, many referring to EVMs functioning at 99 per cent battery capacity. In contrast, the average EVM was found to be operating at 60 to 70 per cent battery capacity during the counting.

The Congress appeared confident of dislodging the BJP dispensation, which had been in power for ten years and was facing anti-incumbency.

However, the BJP, with 48 seats, halted the Congress’ comeback attempt and proved several exit polls wrong, which had predicted a comfortable win for the grand old party in Haryana. The Congress managed to muster 37 seats in the 90-member assembly.

The BJP hits back sharply to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s allegation of labelling them a “party of terrorists,” alleging that the opposition party has a history of supporting terrorism.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi condemned Congress for supporting traditional Islamic practices like triple talaq, halala, and hijab, asserting that they are now making baseless accusations against Hindu society, PTI reported.

“This is the design of the urban Naxal mindset that Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about,” Trivedi said.

Kharge had earlier called the BJP a “party of terrorists”, as he hit back at Modi over his recent remarks that the opposition party was being run by a “gang of urban Naxals”.

Union minister Giriraj Singh claimed that Kharge’s remarks show his reflections on his own party as it was the Congress which always supported terrorists.

Another Union minister, Pralhad Joshi, claimed Kharge “mistakenly” called the BJP a party of terrorists as a slip of tongue.

Taking to X, Joshi said, “It was Sonia Gandhi who shed tears for terrorists who died in Batla House. It was Congress which went soft on Afzal Guru. It was Congress which repealed POTA in 2004. It was their PM Manmohan Singh who shook hands with separatist militants.”

Joshi also said it was under Modi that terrorist activities saw a significant decline.

BJP spokesperson C R Kesavan said Kharge’s comments have exposed Congress’ “prejudiced and toxic mindset and ideology of divide and rule”, similar to that of the colonial British.

“The nation should not forget how the Congress equated terrorism with the Hindu community in 2013. It was no less then a Union minister in the Congress-led UPA government, Sushil Kumar Shinde, who derogatorily and demeaningly talked about Hindu terrorism,” he said.

Earlier, Kharge had also hit out at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat over his remarks on the condition of minorities in Bangladesh, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge accused him of supporting a party “which wants disunity in the country.”

Kharge said, “You (Bhagwat) are the one who supports the party (BJP) which wants disunity in the country. It starts with changing the Constitution, ending reservation, and then speaking different things about Muslims.”

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar over CPWD, CISF and Tata Projects officers entering his room in Parliament without prior intimation to him.

In the letter, shot on October 3, Kharge has demanded to know who authorised the entry into his Parliament chamber calling it an extraordinary development and a blatant violation of rules and his privileges both as a Member of Parliament (MP) and as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

“I find this intrusion highly disrespectful and completely unacceptable. | demand to know under whose authority and instructions they entered my Chamber without permission. This may be taken seriously,” Kharge said in the letter.

Kharge said that he trusts that measures will be taken to ensure that such incidents which undermine the dignity of the Leader of the Opposition do not happen in future again.

“If at all such entry is required, my permission must be sought and must take place with somebody from my office present. I look forward to your prompt response on this matter,” he said.

Youth of Haryana will teach BJP a lesson

In another development, Kharge hit out at PM Modi-led Union government over ‘unemployment.’

The fact that young unskilled, semi-skilled and educated youth are willing to risk their lives and serve in war-ridden theatres, at reportedly high salaries, tells you that PM Modi’s lofty claims on jobs are nothing but Fake Retorts to hide his own failures, Kharge said.

“Youth of Haryana who are forced to seek jobs in these conflict zones will teach a befitting lesson to the BJP, tomorrow,” he said in a post on X.

Haryana is voting for 90 seats in a single phase on October 5. The votes will be counted on October 8. While the rulingBhartiya Janata Party(BJP) and the Congress party are key parties in the fray, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),Jannayak Janata Party(JJP), andIndian National Lok Dal(INLD) — have also stakes in these elections.

जम्मू-कश्मीर के बिलावर में रविवार को एक चुनावी कार्यक्रम के दौरान कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे की अचानक तबीयत बिगड़ गई. अब प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने  मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे से फोन पर बात कर उनका हालचाल जाना और स्वास्थ्य की जानकारी ली.

बता दें कि तबीयत बिगड़ने के बाद थोड़ा बेहतर महसूस करने पर खड़गे फिर से मंच पर आए और मोदी सरकार पर हमला बोलते हुए कहा कि ‘जब तक मोदी सत्ता में हैं, मैं नहीं मरूंगा…’, इस दौरान शहीदों को श्रद्धांजलि देते वक्त खड़गे भावुक भी नजर आए.

दरअसल कार्यक्रम के दौरान जब खड़गे लोगों को संबोधित कर रहे थे उस दौरान वो आतंकी हमले में शहीद हुए जवानों को लेकर भावुक हो गए. खड़गे ने भावुक होकर कहा, ‘जब तक प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी सत्ता में हैं और भाजपा देश पर शासन कर रही है, मैं न तो चैन से बैठूंगा और न ही मरूंगा.’ 

भाषण देने के दौरान वो कुछ देर के लिए असहज महसूस करने लगे, लेकिन तुरंत ही अपने आप को संभाल लिया. इस दौरान भाजपा सरकार की नीतियों पर उन्होंने जमकर हमला बोला. 

खड़गे ने अपने संबोधन में केंद्र सरकार पर निशाना साधते हुए कहा, ‘ये लोग (केंद्र सरकार) कभी चुनाव नहीं कराना चाहते थे. अगर वे चाहते तो एक-दो साल के भीतर ऐसा कर लेते. बीजेपी वाले उपराज्यपाल के जरिए रिमोट से चलने वाली सरकार चलाना चाहते थे…

जब तक मोदी को नहीं हटाएँगे …तब तक मैं ज़िंदा रहूँगा,

आपकी बात सुनूँगा… आपके के लिए लड़ूँगा !! pic.twitter.com/M58zGxVNuX

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 29, 2024

उन्होंने पीएम मोदी ने पिछले 10 साल में भारत के युवाओं को कुछ नहीं दिया. क्या आप उस व्यक्ति पर विश्वास कर सकते हैं जो 10 साल में आपकी समृद्धि वापस नहीं ला सकता? अगर कोई भाजपा नेता आपके सामने आए, तो उनसे पूछें कि वे समृद्धि लाए या नहीं…’

40 सीटों पर अंतिम चरण का मतदान

बता दें कि आज जम्मू कश्मीर में तीसरे और आखिरी चरण की वोटिंग के प्रचार का आखिरी दिन था. आखिरी चरण में 40 सीटों पर वोटिंग होनी है. नतीजे 8 अक्टूबर को आएंगे.