PM denied Dalit leader Kharge key LS post: Cong

Congress on Monday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of denying Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, from becoming the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress' counter came as Modi launched an all-out attack against Congress leadership accusing it of not showing the courtesy to call on Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind after he was elected as the President of India.

Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma rejected Modi's claims insisting that Congress President Rahul Gandhi had called on President Kovind and held one-on-one discussions with him on a range of issues.

Sharma also sought to remind Modi that it was the Congress that had given the country its first Dalit president in K R Narayanan and the first woman Lok Sabha Speaker – Dalit leader Meira Kumar.

“The Prime Minister's and the BJP's anti-Dalit mindset became evident when despite the big win in 2014, he denied Congress Parliamentary Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,” Sharma said.

Campaigning in Bagalkot on Sunday, Modi had called Sonia and Rahul as anti-Dalit and claimed that the mother-son duo did not like when a Dalit was elected President of the country.