'At least come for my funeral...,' Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's emotional appeal to voters in Kalaburagi

KALABURAGI: In an emotional appeal to the people of his home district, Kalaburagi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged them to attend his funeral if they believed he had worked for them, even if they chose not to vote for the party candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The 81-year-old leader expressed that if the people did not support the Congress candidate, he would feel that he no longer had a place in Kalaburagi.

"If you miss your vote this time (if you don't vote for the Congress candidate), I will think that I don't have any place here for me and I could not win your heart," said Kharge, who had won the Lok Sabha elections in Kalaburagi in 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019. The Congress has nominated Kharge's son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani, to contest against BJP's incumbent MP Umesh Jadhav in the district.

Kharge also affirmed his commitment to politics, stating that he would continue to fight against the ideology of the BJP and RSS until his last breath. "I am born for politics. Whether or not I will contest the election, I will strive till my last breath to save the Constitution and democracy of this country. I will not retire from politics," he asserted. The Congress chief emphasized that while one may retire from a position, one should never retire from their principles.

Furthermore, Kharge advised Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who was present at the rally, to adhere to his principles. "I tell Siddaramaiah repeatedly that you may retire as CM or MLA, but you cannot retire from politics till you defeat the ideology of the BJP and RSS," he said, underlining the importance of continuing the fight against the opposing party's ideology.