BJP should stop making efforts to break alliances: Kharge in J&K

Srinagar: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the BJP should stop making efforts to break alliances and political parties opposed to it as they have a minority government at the Centre which depends on TDP and JD-U for survival.

“The Congress and National Conference are contesting the (Jammu and Kashmir) elections together, which has made the BJP nervous. Now they are trying to break the alliance,” Kharge told reporters here.

They (BJP) are even fielding private players and supporting them indirectly as independents in an attempt to defeat Congress-NC candidates, he said and indicated that these independents are getting the money from the BJP.

“Now stop doing it, BJP. Your government is not 400+, it is 200+. It is a minority government. (Chandrababu) Naidu (TDP) can pull your feet anytime; Nitish Kumar (JD-U) can pull out anytime. You have given one hand to someone and one foot to someone else…you should tread carefully,” Kharge said.

The Congress president appealed to people of Jammu and Kashmir to elect a strong government with landslide majority that will solve their problems.

“If you elect a government on the balance (with thin majority), the BJP will bring down the government overnight through horse-trading. It happened in my state, Karnataka. They bought 16 persons (MLAs). In Maharashtra, they split Shiv Sena and NCP to form the government. This (BJP government) is a ‘tod phod sarkar’,” he added.

Kharge launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government, alleging that the prime minister and Home Minister Amit Shah were making false promises.

“They have promised to give five lakh jobs. There are one lakh vacancies in government in Jammu and Kashmir. Why were these not filled?” he asked.

The Congress chief claimed while unemployment and prices were on the rise, the BJP was giving away resources including minerals to its chosen people which have made local people poorer.

“People eat dal, sabzi, etc but the BJP here is eating sand. They bring their people from outside to give them benefits here,” he added.

Kharge also hit out at PM Modi for, what he termed, misuse of foreign visits to malign the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi.

“There is not a single country where he has not set his foot. Met Pakistan PM, got on a swing with Chinese President, met Singapore PM as if they were family friends. Modi said Obama is a friend but campaigned for Trump when he said Ab ki baar Trump sarkaar. Where in the world have we seen outsiders come and campaign?

“Modi talks against India across the world with just one aim to demean Congress and image of Rahul Gandhi. In 60 years of Congress rule, we have never named and shamed India anywhere,” he added.

Earlier during an election rally in Anantnag, the Congress president said if the INDIA bloc had won 20 seats more in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP top brass would have been in jail by now.

“They use CBI, ED, etc to scare our workers so that they stay home. Still the alliance people are not scared because it is a minority government. It has a broken leg which is running on the support of TDP and Nitish Kumar.

“Had we won 20 seats more, they would have been in jail. They deserve to be in jail,” he said.

Kharge stood by his comment when he was asked about it at the presser here.