Central Election Commission on Wednesday issued notices to Priyank Kharge, son of Congress National President Mallikarjuna Kharge, for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Karnataka election campaign and said action would be taken against Priyank if he fails to respond. It has issued notices for violating the code of conduct for primary elections and calling Modi a Nalayak.
Priyank Kharge had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘nalayak’ days after his father had called Prime Minister Modi a ‘poisonous snake’.
Priyank Kharge’ ‘nalayak’ comment triggered a row at a time when Bharitya Janatha Party and the Congress leaders wer engaged in an intense war of words. Mallikarjun Kharge compared PM Modi with a venomous snake and later clarified that he targetted the party and not an individual. A Karnataka BJP MLA called Sonia Gandhi ‘vishkanya’ and then Priyank used ‘nalayak’ to describe Prime Minister Modi.
The commission has said that it should reply to the notice by May 4 evening as to why appropriate action should not be taken for violation of the election code of conduct. BJP has complained to the EC that PM Modi used abusive language. Priyank is contesting as Congress candidate from Chittapur assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission- EC also sent a notice to BJP leader B P Yatnal over his vishkanya remark against Sonia Gandhi.