'Insult to people's mandate': Shivraj Chouhan slams Kharge over 'illegal' remark on Modi, Shah

NEW DELHI, Oct 3 :  Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday hit back at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "illegal", saying the remark was an insult to constitutional institutions and the mandate of the people.

Kharge, speaking in Karnataka, demanded the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, saying "all the elections were illegal" and that Modi, Shah and chief ministers of all the states were "illegal". He also called for fresh polls to be held through ballot papers.

"The statement made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the direction of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is yet another example of their frustration, defeatist mindset and the Congress party's longstanding practice of attacking constitutional institutions," Chouhan said in a statement.

"Kharge calling the prime minister and the home minister 'illegal' is an insult to constitutional institutions and the mandate of the people," he said.

Calling it an insult to the "democratic wisdom" of 140 crore Indians, the senior BJP leader also accused the Congress of disrespecting the Constitution.

"Whenever the people of the country reject the Congress party in elections, it begins conspiring to discredit democracy, the Election Commission, EVMs and the mandate of the people," he said. PTI PK

Kharge had also alleged that the EVMs were being misused and said that "their own people" are saying this.

"Today, the entire country is being run on illegal elections. Modi is an illegal prime minister, Shah is an illegal minister, and all the chief ministers who have been elected anywhere are illegal. All of them should be dissolved, elections should be held, and elections should be conducted through ballot papers," Kharge told reporters in Kalaburagi. (PTI)