Veteran Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday appeared to have mocked the party’s Karnataka president D K Shivakumar on his belief in 'superstitions'.
This happened during an event organized by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on the occasion of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday.
“Nehru had no place for superstitions. Shivakumar ji, he had no place for superstition,” he said, as if underlining the point to Shivakumar as the audience burst into laughter. “He believed in scientific thinking. That’s why the country’s flag got Ashoka Chakra and not Sudarshan Chakra, because it was Emperor Ashoka who united the whole of India.”
Kharge was seen as taunting Shivakumar who believes in astrology. Apparently, Shivakumar’s choice of candidate for the recent Rajarajeshwari Nagar bypoll was based on astrological advice. The party’s candidate, Kusuma Hanumantharayappa, lost badly against BJP’s Munirathna.
The former union minister also chanted the ‘unity’ mantra by asking party leaders to “work together” against the BJP and its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“We have to work as one. We may chant Nehru's name saying he was the first prime minister. What's more important is how he brought the nation and people of all classes together,” Kharge said. “The problem is, one person says one thing and another says something else. We aren't united. With folded hands, I ask everybody to work together in the interest of the party and our ideology.”
He said the BJP attacked the Congress repeatedly with the hope that it would fuel differences and misunderstanding among us. “We shouldn't become victims with this,” the Rajya Sabha member said. He cited the example of how the BJP projected that there were differences between Nehru and Sardar Patel. “All of us, including me, clarified about this in Parliament. But, we didn’t take it forward whereas the BJP continues to spread misinformation.”
Kharge said the Congress would not have a future if it failed to stick to its ideology.
This remark gains significance amid reports that the Congress in Karnataka was divided into factions.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah attacked the RSS and urged party workers to study history in order to counter any lie. “We shouldn’t become weak-minded listening to the lies of the BJP and RSS. You have to know history so that you can counter them effectively,” he said.