Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi getting stranded on his way to a rally in poll-bound Punjab on Wednesday, was a “BJP ploy” to “defame” Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the Congress Government.
Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, he said: “The PMO, the Union Government and the BJP leaders have been providing wrong information to the media to defame the Congress Government, which is being led by a Dalit Chief Minister in Punjab.”
He blamed the Modi Government for the security lapse and said the Centre controlled the SPG and the IB, and the entire incident was a result of the “poor turnout” at the public rally, which Mr. Modi was to address. He claimed that as against the BJP’s expectation of 75,000 people attending its public event, only around 700 had turned up in addition to 5,000 police personnel.
“The BJP leaders are making efforts to destabilise the Government headed by a Dalit CM,” Mr. Kharge alleged. The Congress leader claimed that “because it is a Congress Government and it is an election year, the BJP is playing politics of polarisation”.
