In a poignant plea to the residents of his hometown, Kalaburagi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge implored them to attend his funeral if they felt he had served them well during his tenure, even if they decided not to vote for the party candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The 81-year-old politician expressed that if the people did not lend their support to 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 previously won the Lok Sabha elections in Kalaburagi in 2009 and 2014 but faced defeat in 2019. The Congress party has nominated Kharge’s son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani, to contest against BJP’s incumbent MP Umesh Jadhav in the district.
Kharge also reaffirmed 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.
