The Election Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge over his “nalayak” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an poll campaign in Karnataka. The poll panel noted that prima facie Priyank has violated provisions of the model code of conduct.
The Congress leader, who is seeking reelection from Chittapur in Kalaburagi district, has been asked to respond to the notice by May 4 evening as to why appropriate action should not be taken against him.
Priyank had said on Monday that the prime minister, while claiming to be a son of the Banjara community and promising to take care of them, was "inept" because he and his party had created confusion about reservations for the SC community.
"When you (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) came to Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) what did you tell the people of Banjara community? Aap sab log dariye mat. Banjara ka ek beta Dilli mein Baitha hai (You do not be afraid. A son of Banjara is sitting in Delhi.)," he had said, quoting from Modi's speech.
"Aisa nalayak beta baitha to kaise hota bhai? Ghar kaise chalega? (If an inept son is sitting in Delhi, how can you run the family?), he had further asked
The BJP had moved the poll panel against Priyank for using “abusive” language against Modi.
The EC on Tuesday took a serious note of the "plummeting level of campaign discourse" during electioneering in Karnataka and asked political parties and their star campaigners to exercise caution and restraint in their utterances and not to vitiate the election atmosphere.
Campaigning for the May 10 polls is hotting up with the Congress and the BJP being engaged in a war of words. Both the parties have moved the poll panel seeking action against each other.
