Hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday, 27 April, launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made controversial statements about him, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (EC) against Kharge.
What did the Congress leader say? While addressing a campaign rally in Karnataka's Kalaburagi, Kharge made the remark in Kannada, "PM Modi is like a poisonous snake, you might think it is poison or not. If you lick it, you are dead."
This led to an outrage by several senior BJP leaders. Later, Kharge issued a clarification and said in a series of tweets, "BJP's ideology is divisive, hostile and full of hatred and prejudice towards the poor and Dalits. I discussed the politics of hatred and malice. My statement was neither for PM Modi personally nor for any other person."
How did the BJP react? Reacting to Kharge's statement, BJP leader BS Yediyurappa said, "I never expected the Congress President to make such a statement. He should apologise for it. People will not forget this."
Union minister Smriti Irani slammed the Congress chief and said, "Statement of Mr Kharge reflects vile politics of the Congress particularly of the Gandhi family."