In J-K campaign, Kharge targets BJP: ‘Had we won 20 more LS seats they would have been in jail’

In the Lok Sabha polls, the INDIA bloc, including the Congress, managed to secure 234 seats as against the BJP’s 240.

The BJP hit back at the Congress chief, with party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla saying in a post on X that “Kharge’s remark is a a clear example of Congress’s Emergency mindset… Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency and put Opposition leaders in jail. Congress wants to continue with that legacy.”

Later, at a press conference in Srinagar, when asked about his “jail warning”, Kharge sought to clarify it, saying “If we had 20-25 seats more, then those would have to suffer legal consequences of the misuse of ED, CBI, IT as well as for threatening people and breaking up other parties to form their government.”

Addressing the Anantnag rally, Kharge announced five guarantees for the people of the Union Territory (UT) – including Rs 3,000 per month for women heads of households and 11 kg grains per family member – if the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance is voted to power.
These guarantees pledged by Kharge are related to jobs, food security, healthcare and women empowerment, although the Congress is yet to come up with its manifesto for the upcoming J&K elections.

As part of these guarantees, Kharge promised a Rs 25 lakh health insurance coverage for every family member besides interest-free loans of Rs 5 lakh for women entrepreneurs in self-help groups (SHGs). He pledged jobs for youth that would also involve filling one lakh government vacancies.

He was accompanied by NC president Farooq Abdullah and senior Congress leaders including K C Venugopal and Tariq Hameed Karra.

The Congress chief also promised restoration of statehood and a bicameral legislature to J&K.

At the press conference, Kharge alleged that the BJP was “nervous” about the Congress-NC alliance and was looking for ways to “break” it. “They (BJP) are supporting Independent candidates indirectly in an effort to defeat our candidates. How are so many Independents getting the money to support their campaigns? Who is behind them?” he asked.

Urging the BJP to desist from such attempts, Kharge said the Narendra Modi government is not a “400 paar” government but a coalition one dependent on TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar. “You (BJP) are not permanent as they (TDP or JDU) can pull their support any time.”

Kharge appealed to the J&K people to elect a “strong” government for addressing the concerns of the people. Holding that for any constitutional amendment to be ratified it is sent to states, he urged them: “Choose a government that has a clear majority. If you try to balance, the BJP will start buying people (MLAs) overnight to form its government. This had happened in Karnataka and Maharashtra, where the BJP formed tod-phod sarkar (government through horse-trading).”
Attacking PM Modi over the Manipur crisis, Kharge said, “Manipur is burning… but Modi and Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) are not worried about it. He (Modi) keeps visiting other countries… We have a foreign policy and we are not objecting to his going abroad but he should first take care of what is going on here, in Manipur. There isn’t peace here and he is going to other places to establish peace.”