Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has taken serious exception to his father and All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge being projected as a leader of the Dalits and not that of whole society.
Responding to media queries on his father being made the head of INDI Alliance and some parties within the Opposition block projecting him as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as he hailed from a Dalit community, Mr. Kharge asked why his father is being projected as a leader of a particular community.
“Why do you confine my father to a particular community when it comes to the issue of projecting him as a chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidate? Does it mean that he is not efficient? Don’t you see efficiency in these communities [Dalits]? Do you always want him to have his community tag? It is not correct. When you give status to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you don’t see his community. Instead, you say that he is efficient. It is a different matter that we have, for the last 10 years, seen how efficient he is,” Mr. Kharge said.
