Kharge hits back at Modi; Mukhtar Ansari’s death sparks blame game

Mallikarjun Kharge took over as the Congress chief in October 2022. His tenure has coincided with the party’s victories in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana assembly polls. Kharge has sought to lead differently. He is known to devolve responsibility downwards. Fluent in Marathi, Hindi, and Urdu apart from his mother tongue Kannada, Kharge has shown he minces no words while attacking his rivals.
On Thursday, Kharge reacted sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on the Congress over a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud against a “specific interest group” allegedly undermining the judiciary. Kharge accused Modi of “manipulating democracy” and “bullying institution after institution” into submission.
Kharge wrote on X, “PM Narendra Modi ji, You are talking about Judiciary. You conveniently forget that 4 senior-most Supreme Court judges were forced to hold an unprecedented press conference and warn against ‘destruction of Democracy’. That happened under your regime.” He added a judge was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. “So who wants a ‘committed judiciary’? You forget that your party has fielded a former HC Judge in West Bengal for the current Lok Sabha elections. Why was this candidature bestowed on him?”
Modi attacked the Congress on Thursday saying bullying and browbeating were part of the opposition party’s culture as he shared a screenshot of the letter to the CJI. A group of over 600 lawyers, including senior counsel Harish Salve, Pinky Anand, Manan Kumar Mishra, and Uday Holla, ostensibly endorsed the letter.
Kejriwal attacks ED
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of running a racket in the name of investigating the now-scrapped excise policy. He said ED’s sole intention was to crush the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and implicate him as he was produced in a Delhi court at the end of his ED remand on Thursday. The agency, which denied the charges, secured Kejriwal’s remand until April 1 .
Kejriwal attempted to link a “racket” in the excise policy probe to money received by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through electoral bonds from some businessmen linked to the probe. The agency rejected the accusation and maintained there was proof that the AAP “received a bribe”.
LG criticizes Kejriwal, his wife alleges harassment
Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Thursday attacked Kejriwal for allegedly sitting on the transfer file of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College principal over sexual harassment charges for 45 days. The comments came days after Delhi health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj urged Saxena to take action against the accused.
Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita, meanwhile, on Thursday said Kejriwal was not keeping well. She alleged he was being harassed in custody.
Mukhtar Ansari’s death sparks blame game
Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s death on Thursday sparked a blame game with Rashtriya Janata Dal leader (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav questioning whether the former state legislator from Mau indeed died of a heart attack. Yadav and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that Ansari was administered poison in jail.
The RJD leader raised concerns over the events leading to Ansari’s death and called on the constitutional institutions to take suo motu cognizance of “such strange cases”. Owaisi echoed Yadav. In his condolences to Ansari’s family, Owaisi said, “The people of Ghazipur lost their favourite son and brother. Mukhtar Saheb had made serious allegations against the administration that he was poisoned. Despite this, the government did not pay any attention to his treatment. Condemnable and regrettable.”
Lawyers of Ansari, who was accused in 63 criminal cases including murder, and was convicted and sentenced in eight of these since September 2022, filed an application in a court alleging that he was being slowly poisoned. The murder of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Krishnanand Rai in 2005 was among the most high-profile cases he faced. Ansari was once regarded as one of eastern Uttar Pradesh’s most dreaded gangsters.