'After vote chori, now satta chori': Mallikarjun Kharge's latest jibe at Centre; targets BJP's new 'remove ministers' bills

NEW DELHI: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, alleging that after “vote chori,” the BJP is now attempting “satta chori” through new bills aimed at toppling opposition governments within 30 days.The Congress leader was speaking at a meeting with newly-appointed District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in Indira Bhawan.He claimed that these bills take away the rights of citizens to form or remove their elected government and give that power to agencies like the ED and CBI."It is like running a bulldozer on democracy,” Kharge alleged.The Congress chief also highlighted that Rahul Gandhi had recently given a detailed presentation showing how votes were allegedly ‘stolen’ in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency through a planned conspiracy.

"We came to know all this after six months of research," he said.Commenting on the recently concluded Monsoon Session, Kharge said the opposition wanted Parliament to function and debate key public issues, but the BJP government avoided discussions on matters such as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged “vote theft.”He accused BJP of using the SIR of voter lists to cut opposition votes and urged party workers to keep a close watch on voter rolls so that any attempt by BJP members or booth-level officers to delete Congress supporters’ names could be detected immediately.

Kharge also highlighted Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing “Voter Adhikar Yatra” in Bihar, saying it is drawing lakhs of people in protest against alleged voter manipulation."But the prime minister is talking about infiltrators to mislead people," he said.Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha proposing that the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious charges would automatically lose office on the 31st day. The move sparked fierce protests from opposition MPs, who tore up copies of the bills in the Lok Sabha. The legislation has now been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny.The Congress President stated that the BJP introduced three new bills on the final day of Parliament, including one seeking a constitutional amendment, despite lacking a two-thirds majority. He alleged that party is using arrest as a political weapon."We have seen that out of 193 cases against opposition leaders, the ED action has resulted in conviction in only two cases. Many chief ministers and ministers were arrested and kept in jail for months. But now the CBI is saying that they do not have any evidence," he said.