New Delhi: While poll-bound Karnataka witnesses high-voltage electioneering by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) & Congress star campaigners, leaders of both parties are engaged in a bitter exchange of barbs & personal attacks. Karnataka BJP MLA Basanagouda Yatnal on Friday called former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi a "vishkanya". This comes a day after incumbent Cong president Mallikarjun Kharge comparing Prime Minister with a poisonous snake, though moments later he retracted his comments and said that it was directed at the saffron party & not on any particular individual. Basanagouda Yatnal, addressing a poll rally in Koppal said, 'the whole world has accepted PM Modi & his stature. Once America refused to give him visa... they later rolled out a red carpet for Modi. Now, they (the Congress) are comparing him to a cobra and saying he will spew venom. Is Sonia Gandhi a venomous woman (vishkanye)?" Yatnal, who has been a Lok Sabha MP earlier, went a step further & described Sonia Gandhi as ‘former agent of China & Pakistan’. With BJP MLA hurling objectionable jibes at Sonia Gandhi, a fresh war of words broke out between the two national parties. BJP may have its own reasons to justify tit-for-tat remarks but Cong is not taking the remarks against its supreme leader lightly & protested strongly against the ‘wild’ remarks. Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel was among the first to slam the BJP over abominable slur against Sonia Gandhi. He demanded an apology from the leader and also asked what action will PM & Home Minister take against him. A Karnataka BJP MLA has called Mrs Sonia Gandhi a 'Vishkanya'. People want to know what PM Modi & Amit Shah have to say on this issue: Bhupesh Baghel, Chhattisgarh CM, in Raipur pic.twitter.com/aHsphHj0Up — ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2023 Cong leader Randeep Surjewala said that worst kind of abuse was being hurled at former Cong chief, apparently at the behest of BJP’s top leaders and demanded that Yatnal be expelled from the party for ‘stooping to lowest level’. Notably, Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 & results will be declared on May 13.
