'If Modi is re-elected as PM in 2024, he will become dictator like Putin': Mallikarjun Kharge

Bhubaneswar: AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge has said 'if Modi is re-elected as Prime Minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha election then it will be the last elections in the country.'

'There will be no more elections after 2024 if Modi is re-elected and there will be dictatorship in India like Vladimir Putin in Russia,' Kharge alleged while addressing a massive rally christened as "Odisha Bachho Divas" organised by the state Congress here.

The Congress President said the BJP and RSS combination is dangerous for the country which only destroys democracy and the constitution.

He described the BJP-RSS combination as poison, and asked the people not to trust them as they are trying to snatch away the rights of the SC, ST and OBC and the common people.

Kharge said while Congress is trying to unite the people, the BJP is playing a divide and rule policy.

The AICC President further said the fight is now between the rich and the poor adding that while the BJP is for the rich, the Congress is for the poor and it now up to the people to decide whether they want a government for the rich or a government for the poor.

Kharge also came down heavily on Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik stating that there is a big difference between Naveen Patnaik and his father late Biju Patnaik.

He said Biju Patnaik was a close friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and was following his ideology while his son Naveen Patnaik is following the ideology of BJP.

The Veteran Congress leader asked the people of Odisha what they have got during the 23 years tenure of Naveen Patnaik in the state.

Naveen has promised 35 percent irrigation and cold storage in all the 314 blocks in the state, he said and questioned whether these promises were fulfilled in the last 23 years.

There are 30 lakhs vacancies in the country and yet no steps have been taken by the Modi government to fill up these vacancies. BJP had promised two crore employment, Kharge said and asked have they given any employment.

In Odisha also 2.36 lakhs vacancies are yet to be filled up by the Naveen Patnaik government which has not taken any steps while the unemployment figure has touched 45 lakhs.

Kharge also slammed Naven Patnaik for allowing an officer's raj in the state and asked the people whether they need people from outside the state to run the government.

There had been chit fund scam, multi crore Mining scam and several other scams in Odisha yet nothing has happened, no ED or CBI probe, the Congress President said this is because there has been an unholy nexus between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

On Nitish Kumar leaving the INDIA alliance, he said one or two people leaving the alliance will not make any impact .The INDIA bloc will not become weak and will remain as strong as it was.