Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, deputy CM Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and state BJP president Manmohan Samal on Sunday criticised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over his reported “Modi ka baap” remark, made at a public meeting.Reacting on social media platform X, Majhi accused the Congress of engaging in personal attacks instead of debating governance and development issues. He described Kharge’s remarks as reflective of the Congress’s “intellectual bankruptcy”, and alleged that the opposition party had resorted to personal abuse because it lacked a developmental vision and governance record to defend.“People will remember the moral collapse of a once-national party,” Majhi said in his post.Terming Kharge’s remarks “distasteful”, deputy CM Singh Deo said dragging the Prime Minister’s late father into political discourse was an affront to democratic values. He said criticism of a govt’s policies was legitimate, but targeting a leader’s family crossed the line of political propriety.“Congress must reflect on the statement, and Kharge should express regret,” Singh Deo said, adding that voters would give their verdict through the ballot.State BJP president Samal said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi ’s intellectual bankruptcy is already well known. “But Kharge ji, you too? You may please Rahul Gandhi by making such a distasteful remark at this stage of your life, but what will you gain from it,” he asked on social media.
