Mallikarjun Kharge should apologise for insulting mandate of people: BJP on Congress chief calling PM Modi 'illegal'

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday hit out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "illegal", demanding that he apologise for insulting the mandate of the people.

Kharge on Saturday called for the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, saying that "all the elections were illegal" and even Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah and chief ministers of all the states were "illegal".

Speaking to reporters in Karnataka's Kalaburgi, the Congress president also called for fresh polls to be conducted on ballot papers.


Hitting back, Union minister Kiren Rijiju asked, "Are you illegal MP Kharge ji? Is Rahul Gandhi ji an illegal MP? Are Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Keralam, Punjab, J-K, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand illegal?"

"Stop insulting the Constitution of India," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said in a post on X.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi termed Kharge's remarks an insult to the mandate of the people of the country and demanded an apology from the Congress.

After Kharge was elected as the Congress president, many leaders of his party demanded the "list of the electoral college", but the party did not provide it to anyone, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP claimed

"So, the first question that arises is whether your election to the post of President is illegal," he asked Kharge.

Trivedi said Modi led the first non-Congress government in the country with a "clear majority" in 2014.

"Among all the prime ministers from the Congress party's family, which one was elected for the first time through a constitutional, democratic process with the public's mandate?" he asked.

Trivedi alleged that Jawaharlal Nehru's election in 1946 was "ethically illegal" as he secured the position despite Sardar Patel receiving all the votes.

"Indira Gandhi did not become prime minister for the first time through a popular mandate either. She ascended to the role amidst internal party infighting.

"Rajiv Gandhi assumed office riding the wave of public sympathy following Indira Gandhi's tragic assassination. And everyone knows how Dr. Manmohan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao became prime ministers," he added.

Trivedi asked the Congress to look within while discussing "what is legal or illegal".

"The reality is that the Congress only won elections (in the past) when ballot papers were looted, booths were captured, there were no CCTVs or independent media and killings took place on a massive scale, " he said.

The Congress cannot defend itself by blaming India's electoral system for its own failures, he added.