Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 'At least come for my funeral...', Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's emotional pitch at rally on home turf

The 81-year-old AICC President said that if they (people) did not vote for the Congress candidate, he would think that he did not have 'any place' in Kalaburagi anymore.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday tried to strike an emotional chord with the electors of his home district by appealing to them to at least attend his funeral if they remember development works taken up by him even if they do not wish to vote for Congress candidate.

“I (Congress) may get your vote or not, but you come to my funeral at least by remembering my good works. You light a candle if cremated or offer soil if buried. Others will realise that I have done some good deeds if more people converge at the time of my funeral. I appeal that your vote should not go waste,” Kharge said addressing an election rally in Afzalpur.

Stating that the entire nation was united to defeat him in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several others had camped in Kalaburagi to defeat him. “I was confident that the people of Kalaburagi would not respond to them. Unfortunately, I faced defeat in the polls. You are aware of the development works done by me as an MP and minister. I will assume that there’s no place for me in your heart if the Congress party loses again,” he said.

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that BJP won’t not win even 200 seats, let alone go past 400. “I am born for politics. Whether or not I will contest the election, I will strive till my last breath to save the Constitution and democracy of this country. I will not retire from politics,” the 81-year-old, who holds the rare distinction of nine consecutive wins in Assembly elections, added.

He added that he was born to defeat the ideology of the BJP and RSS and not to surrender before them.

The Congress has fielded Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from Gulbarga parliamentary seat against BJP’s sitting MP Umesh Jadhav.

CM credits Kharge for Article 371J

Addressing the rally, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah credited Mallikarjun Kharge and former CM Dharamsingh behind the enactment of Article 371J for Kalyana Karnataka. “In fact the then BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected a proposal sent by then CM S M Krishna seeking special status under Article 371 J. But Kharge made sure the Manmohan Singh government granted the special status to the backward area. The region is seeing development works. Our government has sanctioned Rs 5,000 crore for the development of Kalyana Karnataka,” he said.

Calling the BJP a factory of lies, Siddaramaiah called upon the electors to show the saffron party the door in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.