Gujarat Congress Seeks FIR Against Karnataka BJP Leader Rathod For 'Threat' Remarks Against Kharge

Manikanta Rathod, a BJP candidate in the Karnataka Assembly elections, was accused by the opposition Congress on Tuesday of threatening party president Mallikarjun Kharge's family with murder.

PTI

Updated on: 9 May 2023 3:07 pm

Mallikarjun Kharge

The opposition Congress in Gujarat on Tuesday demanded the registration of an FIR by the state police against Manikanta Rathod, a BJP candidate in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls, claiming he had threatened to kill party president Mallikarjun Kharge and his family.

The Congress had on May 6 shared an audio purportedly of Rathod, the BJP candidate from the Chittapur Assembly constituency of Karnataka, in which he was heard saying in Kannada that he will wipe out “Kharge, his wife, and children.”

Citing that audio clip, Congress leaders handed over a memorandum, seeking registration of an FIR against Rathod, to all the 33 district Superintendents of Police in Gujarat on Tuesday.
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor handed over the memorandum to in-charge city police commissioner, Premvir Singh.

As per the memorandum, Rathod's purported statement has hurt the sentiments of the people in Gujarat and the law and order situation may deteriorate in the state if strict action was not taken against the BJP leader.

The Congress has demanded that Rathod be booked under various sections of the IPC which deal with "hate speech" and criminal intimidation such as 153(A), 295(A), 505, 506, and also criminal conspiracy (120B).

In Gandhinagar, a delegation led by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda handed over the memorandum to police officials in the state capital.

"Rathod identifies himself as a blue-eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders of Karnataka. Kharge belongs to a Dalit family and he is very popular in Karnataka. Unhappy with the Congress' soaring graph in Karnataka, Rathod had said he will kill Kharge and his family," alleged Chavda.

"People associated with the Congress are angry and aghast because a BJP leader is conspiring to kill Kharge. ?Thus, through this memorandum, we urged the Gujarat police to complain Rathod," Chavda added.