Kalaburagi, 12 Oct

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday called BJP a 'party of terrorists', as he hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent remarks that the grand old party is being run by a "gang of urban Naxals".

He also accused those in the saffron party of 'lynching and beating' people, and committing atrocities against SC/STs.

Hitting back at Kharge's remarks, senior Karnataka BJP leader and MLC N Ravikumar told PTI that terrorism and Naxal activities have come down in the country by about 80-90 per cent, and challenged for a survey and debate on -- who is pro terrorist -- comparing ten years of Modi government at the Centre with 10 years of Manmohan Singh rule.

"He (Modi) has always been saying it, even now he is saying it. Till now he was silent, after getting a bit of life now, he is saying urban Naxal. He calls intellectual and progressive people urban Naxal, he calls Congress too (as urban Naxals), this is his habit," Kharge said in response to a question on Modi's comments.

"Modi has no right, wherever his party-led government is there, atrocities happen there on scheduled class people, especially on tribal people. Then he (Modi) says injustice is happening. Is the government ours (Congress)? It is your (BJP) government, you can control. But Modi's habit is to speak. He speaks less about country and people, more about party," he added.

He said the party was analysing the Haryana Assembly poll results, and has sought a booth wise report to determine what led to the defeat.

He said his party is paying special attention to ascertain what led to Haryana loss, keeping forthcoming elections in mind, but ruled out the possibility of this result having any impact on the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election. -PTI