"Everyone Knows Who Holds Remote": PM's Dig At Gandhis Over Mallikarjun Kharge

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Karnataka ahead of assembly elections, accused the Gandhis of insulting one of the state's tallest leaders, Mallikarjun Kharge, who currently heads the Congress. "I want to remind people how the Congress hates Karnataka... insulting the state's leaders is part of its old culture," PM Modi said in Belagavi, where he released the 13th instalment of over Rs 16,000 crore for farmers.

Assembly elections are due in Karnataka by May.

For the Congress, Mr Kharge is just a figurehead -- "for name's sake" -- the Prime Minister said, asserting that "everyone knows who holds the remote control".

Claiming that the "Congress leadership belonging to one family insulted party chief Kharge during its Raipur plenary", PM Modi said, "Mallikarjun Kharge has served the public in whatever way possible... I was disheartened to see how the most senior leader, the president of Congress, has been disrespected by them... The world knows who has the remote control".

A furious response came from Mr Kharge. "Under whose umbrella your "best friend" looted everything from the sky to the underworld of the country? We are the Congressmen standing under the tricolor, who made the country independent by defeating "Company Raj", and will never allow the country to become "Company Raj". Tell me, when will JPC be held on Adani?" read a rough translation of his tweet in Hindi.

The Congress recently held its plenary session in Raipur under the leadership of Mr Kharge. But the session was not considered as big a success as it should have been, with the proposal to elect members of the Working Committee -- the Congress's highest decision-making body -- being turned down by the party.

There were reports that Rahul Gandhi was not in favour of elections and the party's steering committee authorised Mr Kharge to nominate members to the Working Committee.

Critics said for Mr Kharge, it would have been a big step to uphold the democratic credentials of the party. Instead, he was over-ruled by the Gandhis, who were still calling the shots, critics said.

Mr Kharge was elected to the party's top post last year -- the first non-Gandhi to lead the Congress in more than two decades. His election, though backed by the Gandhis --- had set off expectation that the practice of electing leaders to internal bodies will percolate to the lower levels as well.