KALABURAGI, 24 APRIL

Seeking to strike an emotional chord with the people of his home district of Kalaburagi, Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday appealed to them to at least attend his funeral if they thought he worked for them even though they do not wish to vote for the party candidate here in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking at a poll rally at Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district, the 81-year-old also said if they (people) did not vote for the Congress candidate, he would think that he did not have "any place" in Kalaburagi anymore.

Congress has fielded Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from Kalaburagi, against BJP’s sitting MP Umesh Jadhav.

He said that he would continue in politics till his last breath to "defeat" the BJP and RSS ideology. "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," Kharge asserted.

He advised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who shared the dais with him, to follow 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 BJP and RSS."  —PTI