The Congress party has alleged a murder conspiracy against All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, May 6, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala played an audio clip of a conversation allegedly between Chittapur constituency Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Manikanta Rathod and a BJP worker called Ravi. The conversation between the person, identified as Manikanta by the Congress, says, “If I had his (phone number), I will ‘finish off’ his wife and family.” He immediately backpedals and says that if he had Kharge’s phone number, he would abuse him on the phone. The audio clip does not make it clear whether the reference is to Mallikarjun Kharge or his son Priyank, the sitting MLA of Chittapur, who is contesting against Manikanta.
Surjewala said the audio pointed out that assassination plots had entered the electoral discourse and it was the lowest level the BJP could stoop to. “The BJP and its leadership is now hatching a murder plot to kill AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and entire family. Instead of presenting a vision for development for Karnataka, the pathetic state of the BJP is that they coin one ugly polarising issue a day. Now they are using assassination plots as their last weapon in their armoury,” he said.
The Congress will be filing a police complaint against Manikanta , based on the audio clip.
The choice of Manikanta as a candidate for Chittapur constituency has been controversial for the BJP. With 40 pending cases for various offences including attempted murder and transporting rice meant for Public Distribution System, illegally, and three convictions including one for sale of milk powder meant for Anganwadi children, on the black market, Manikanta’s candidature has been tough to defend for the BJP. The party has insisted that his ‘winnability’ factor made him the right choice.
Two disgruntled aspirants in the BJP, Vishwanath Patil Hebbal and Arvind Chauhan made their way to the Congress after the snub. The Banjara community, which Manikanta belongs to, are also upset with the choice as they felt that other deserving BJP candidates from the same community were ignored.