NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India on Wednesday issued a notice to Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge over his “terrorist” remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported news agency ANI.
According to the agency, the poll body has taken a serious note of Kharge’s remarks and asked him to explain his stand within 24 hours.
The development comes hours after a BJP delegation met the poll panel and lodged a formal complaint against Kharge.
Addressing a press conference in Chennai, Kharge said, “How these AIADMK people, who themselves put the photo of Annadurai, how can they join Modi? He is a terrorist.”
When the Congress chief was asked to put his statement in context, he clarified, “He (PM Modi) is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist.”
“What I mean, I want to clarify, is that Modi always threatens. The institutions like ED, I-T and CBI are in his hands. He wants to take delimitation also into his hands. Therefore, I said, in that context, he is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist,” Kharge added.
Seeing his remarks snowballing into a major controversy ahead of polling in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Kharge issued a clarification, saying he meant the Prime Minister was “trying to silence people” and didn’t intend to call him a terrorist literally.
“I did not speak against the PM. The PM is terrorising politicians, candidates and regarding this, I said that tax terrorism is happening, ED is conducting raids, Income Tax Dept is conducting raids, and CBI is conducting raids. This terrorism is being facilitated by the PM. I did not call him a terrorist; he is facilitating terrorism to scare people. He is trying to silence people through raids and attempting to defeat them in elections. This is what I said in Chennai,” Kharge told reporters in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi.
Agencies