BJP approaches EC over Sonia Gandhi's 'sovereignty' remark

The BJP on Monday approached the EC asking the election body to revoke the registration of the Congress and take action against party leader Sonia Gandhi, complaining against a tweet by the Opposition party’s twitter handle, which quoted Gandhi saying that the Congress would not let anyone pose a threat to Karnataka’s “reputation, sovereignty or integrity”. The BJP complained that the tweet is “an evil design” to provoke staunch nationalists and amounts to a call for secession.

The election body, in response, has asked the Congress president to respond to it. “... you are requested to clarify and take rectification measures in respect of the social media post which has been put up on the INC Twitter handle and attributed to Chairperson CPP,” the EC said in a notice to Mallikarjun Kharge.

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Earlier on Monday, a delegation of Union Ministers Bhupender Yadav and Jitendra Singh, party general secretary Tarun Chugh, media chief Anil Baluni and Om Pathak met the EC to hand over the complaint, alleging that the intent of the tweet is to “disturb the equanimity, harmony and peace” in Karnataka to “obtain the votes or support of some select communities and groups, whose sole purpose is to disturb the very being of Indian State”.

“Karnataka, is a very important member in the Union of India and any call to protect the sovereignty of a member state of the Union of India amounts to a call for secession and is fraught with perilous & pernicious consequences. This must be clearly understood in the backdrop of generally accepted essentials of a sovereign state,” the complaint states.