Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 9 : Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prakash Reddy on Tuesday trained a gun on the Congress following remarks by party president Mallikarjun Kharge over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), alleging that the opposition was "losing public mandate" and was using the exercise as a "weapon" to deflect attention from electoral setbacks.
Speaking to ANI here, Reddy defended the SIR process and asserted that it was not new, claiming it had been conducted earlier during the Congress regime as well.
Launching a sharp attack on Mallikarjun Kharge, he accused the Congress of "repeatedly violating constitutional norms" while claiming to defend them.
"...being the president of the party, he should know the limitations...many a time they violated the constitutional positions...BJP follows the constitutional spirit and word of the Constitution. And the SIR, we are not doing first time. Many times in the post-independence era, SIR was conducted, even during the Congress regime. SIR was conducted, and the same process is now followed by the Election Commission," Reddy said while reacting to Kharge's statements made during the INDIA bloc yesterday meeting.
Accusing the Congress of politicising the issue, he added, "I don't find any issue with SIR, but the only Congress party, while they are defeating, while they are losing the public mandate, while they are losing the public support, they just are putting their allegations on SIR and escaping from their defeat. Just simply, people are not with them; people are in spirit, they are not following the Congress party, they are not voting for the Congress party. Knowingly, just to throw mud on others, they are using SIR as their weapon, which is unfortunate."
Reddy further argued that the opposition's criticism stemmed from an assumption that constitutional violations were common practice. He added that the BJP functions strictly within constitutional norms, saying, "BJP is the party which follows spirit, word and spirit, the constitutional spirit and word of the constitution."
Reddy's remarks come after Kharge, at an INDIA bloc meeting, raised concerns over SIR and alleged voter disenfranchisement, while also reiterating opposition unity on key issues, including delimitation and foreign policy.
On Monday, A high-profile meeting of the INDIA bloc, including 23 political parties, was held to deliberate on key national issues, including concerns over SIR, alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations.
The Congress chief alleged that the SIR exercise was depriving millions of people of their voting rights and accused the government of continuing attacks on the Constitution, misusing investigative agencies against political opponents and discriminating against non-BJP state governments
"It was agreed to send a letter to the Chief Justice of India on SIR, vote loot and stealing elections. The letter is to be delivered to the Chief Justice of India very soon," Kharge said.
Meanwhile, in response, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sambit Patra targeted the bloc's criticism of electoral rolls, calling it a "tape recorder" that the opposition plays only after poll defeats.
"He said that 'SIR' occurred, and votes were stolen; I don't understand how long they have been playing this same tape recorder," Patra said.