Now there is 'Seat Chori': Minister Priyank Kharge on Cong candidate's RS nomination rejection

Bengaluru;  Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday alleged "Seat Chori" by the BJP after the rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh.

He said the party was moving the Supreme Court against the decision.

The Congress has challenged the Returning Officer's decision to reject Natarajan's nomination and announced that it would seek legal recourse against the move.

"First there was 'Vote Chori', and now they (BJP) are trying 'Seat Chori' (theft of Rajya Sabha seat)," Kharge, who is the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, told reporters here.

Claiming that the law on the issue was clear, Kharge alleged that the rejection reflected the extent to which the central government was prepared to go to win elections.

"That is why they (BJP) are conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The law on this matter is very clear.

If they are violating even that, it is a major example of how far (BJP) governments are willing to go to win an election," he said.

The Congress on Wednesday took up with the Election Commission the issue of rejection of its Madhya Pradesh candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls, saying the order was 'egregious' and should be set aside immediately.

A delegation of top party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Singhvi, Vivek Tankha, Randeep Surjewala, Bhupesh Baghel and Deepa Dasmunshi, along with Natarajan, met the Commission and demanded that the decision be reversed.

Turning to allegations by Karnataka Assembly Leader of Opposition R Ashoka regarding an alleged garbage management scam to the tune of Rs 39,000 crore, Kharge challenged the BJP to publicly substantiate its charges and said the state government was open to any probe.

Ashoka on Wednesday alleged that the Congress government had engineered the scam in Bengaluru's waste management and received a Rs 10,000-crore kickback through a long-term garbage processing tender awarded to a private company.

Ashoka later submitted a complaint to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot seeking an investigation into the tender process, claimed the contract had been awarded to a single company for 35 years at highly inflated rates, causing a massive financial burden on the public exchequer.

Reacting to it, Kharge said, "I would appeal to our Leader of the Opposition: do not indulge in hit-and-run allegations or simply dump tonnes of documents." Referring to Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's response, Kharge added, "Conduct any investigation.

We have no problem and we are ready." Kharge said merely submitting documents to the Governor without publicly explaining the alleged irregularities served little purpose. "Bring the details before the media and explain how the transaction took place and whether it was done to favour someone," he said, adding that the tender process had not yet been finalised.

Responding to allegations that contracts were being awarded to blacklisted firms, Kharge accused the Union government of fostering such a practice.

On the agitation against the proposed Bidadi township project and the registration of FIRs against protesting farmers, Kharge said all stakeholders must operate within the law but maintained that the government remained committed to protecting farmers' interests.

"If an FIR has been filed wrongly, it can always be withdrawn," he said. "We are not acquiring any land in a manner that causes inconvenience to farmers or goes against their wishes." He said some landowners were voluntarily parting with land while others had approached legal forums over their concerns.

Noting that the government is with the farmers, Kharge claimed that local farmer leaders and elected representatives were fully aware of developments and that the government would take suitable action after reviewing the matter.

Addressing allegations of an imbalance in grants sanctioned for community halls for OBC groups, Kharge said allocations were based on requirements and not on favouritism towards any particular community.

"It is the government's responsibility to ensure justice for all communities.

We are not the government of any one community," he said.

Kharge said variations in allocations could arise depending on the needs of different communities in a given year. "If there is any imbalance, we have the opportunity to correct it, and we will do so," he added.

The minister also said the government was preparing a detailed blueprint to combat drug trafficking and abuse across Karnataka, stressing that the problem extended beyond Bengaluru and required coordinated action from multiple agencies and stakeholders.

"We need a carefully planned strategy—where the drugs are coming from, how they are coming in, what the money trail is, who the peddlers are," he said.

He added that responsibilities and accountability would be fixed under a comprehensive action plan being prepared by the government.

Questioning the role of central agencies, Kharge said a significant quantity of narcotics was entering the country through Mundra Port in the BJP-ruled Gujarat and called for collective action.