Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday launched a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that the two leaders do not wish to safeguard the Constitution or protect India’s democratic fabric.
Speaking to ANI during his visit to Junagadh, Gujarat, Kharge said the Opposition’s foremost goal is to defend the Constitution and democracy.
“It is common to fight elections in a democracy. Our main target is to save the Constitution and safeguard democracy. This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who united the country. But two other people do not want the Constitution to remain safe, nor do they want to save democracy,” Kharge remarked.
On the recently concluded Vice Presidential election, Kharge admitted the Opposition bloc lacked the numbers: “We did not have the majority, we got as many votes as we had,” he said.
Earlier, Congress MP Manish Tewari had raised concerns over alleged cross-voting within the INDIA bloc, saying such possibilities must be “systematically and clinically investigated.”
Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju credited some opposition MPs with voting for NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan out of “conscience.” BJP General Secretary BL Santhosh also highlighted that the INDIA bloc’s tally fell short by 15 votes.
Radhakrishnan, the NDA nominee, was elected as India’s 15th Vice President on Tuesday, defeating INDIA bloc candidate Justice B Sudershan Reddy by 152 votes. Radhakrishnan secured 452 first-preference votes, while Justice Reddy received 300. Fifteen votes were declared invalid.
The Vice President’s post had been vacant since July 21, 2025, following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar due to health reasons.