Dizziness on J&K dais halts Kharge speech, says won't die before ousting Modi

JAMMU: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was taken ill Sunday on the last lap of campaigning for the assembly elections in J&K, but he resumed his speech soon after receiving medical attention and declared he wouldn't die before ousting PM Narendra Modi from office.

"I am 83 years old...I will stay alive until PM Modi is removed. I will fight for you," he told the crowd at Jasrota in Jammu division's Kathua, which goes to polls on October 1 in the last of three phases covering 40 seats in seven districts of the UT.

Kharge iterated that Congress, which is contesting the polls in alliance with Farooq Abdullah's National Conference, would prioritise restoration of statehood to J&K. "Why has BJP delayed restoring statehood when they hold the reins?" he said.

The Congress chief alleged that BJP didn't even want to hold elections in J&K and would have preferred to "remote-control" the administration from Delhi. "They started preparing for elections only after Supreme Court's intervention."

Kharge urged voters to see through what he said was PM Modi's "false tears for the youth of J&K".

"The truth is that in the last 10 years, the youth of the entire country has been pushed into darkness, for which Modiji is responsible. Around 65% of the posts in government departments in J&K are vacant. Jobs are being given to outsiders on contractual and daily-wage basis," he said.

"I have received information that even in AIIMS Jammu, people from the region did not get jobs."

The Congress president accused Modi and home minister Amit Shah, who also campaigned for BJP in J&K, of "only making speeches, getting photographed, and cutting ribbons".

Accusing the PM of abusing Congress to hide his insecurity, Kharge said, "How much abuse will he heap on Congress? The kind of language he (Modi) uses shows his nervousness. He can clearly see defeat."

Kharge was paying tribute to head constable Bashir Ahmed, who died fighting terrorists in Kathua Saturday, when he complained of dizziness. J&K Congress vice president Ravindra Sharma told reporters that the AICC chief was taken to a room for a medical check-up before a doctor cleared him to take the dais again. He didn't another scheduled rally at Ramnagar in Udhampur district.

Kharge had a similar health scare while campaigning in Haryana on September 23.

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