Karnataka polls: Congress accuses BJP of plotting to kill Mallikarjun Kharge, saffron party denies charge

The campaign for the assembly polls in India’s southern Karnataka state has become increasingly contentious after the opposition Congress party accused a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of plotting to assassinate its president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his entire family.

The sensational charge was made by Congress member and party’s Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala during a press conference on Saturday.

During the press briefing, he played an audio clip purportedly of Manikanta Rathod, the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district, where he can be heard saying in the Kannada language that he will "wipe out Kharge, his wife and children".

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“I am going to play for you an audio recording of an assassination plot to wipe out none less than the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife, and his entire family as being hatched by the BJP leaders. There can be nothing more serious than that.”

He added that "the assassination plots have entered the electoral discourse of Karnataka and this was the lowest political discourse anyone can stoop to.”

He claimed that BJP leaders are “intimidated by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress party”, and sensing “complete rout”, the BJP leaders a hatching a plot to eliminate Kharge and his family.

BJP candidate Rathod, on the other hand, refuted the assassination allegations saying, “It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is levelling baseless allegations fearing defeat,” reports PTI news agency.

Reacting to the allegations, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said an investigation would be conducted to find out the authenticity of the recording.

“I do not know about the audio. That will be investigated. We will take it seriously and get it investigated."

Karnataka polls to begin on May 10

The state will go to polls on May 10. The election results will be declared on May 13. There are a total of 224 seats in Karnataka, the seventh-largest legislative assembly by strength. The majority mark is 112.

The incumbent BJP is facing a massive anti-incumbency wave due to massive corruption charges, and public distrust towards the functioning of the government.

What happened in the last election?

The 2018 Karnataka assembly polls gave a hung assembly with BJP emerging as the single largest party. The saffron party won 104 seats while the coalition of Congress and JD (S) won 87 and 30 seats respectively. BJP’s Yediyurappa was first to stake the claim to form the government, but he failed to prove the majority after a high-pitch legal battle and submitted his resignation just before the trust vote in May 2018 paving way for the Congress-JD(S) coalition to form the government under the leadership of JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy.

But this government was also short-lived as it lasted for merely 14 months after several ruling party MLAs switched to BJP.

This paved the way for BJP, under ex-chief minister BS Yediyurappa to form the government. However, later he was forced to resign by the party, making way for the incumbent CM Bommai Basavaraj to take over the reins.

(With inputs from agencies)

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