Karnataka Elections: 'Poison' Barbs Continue As BJP MLA Calls Sonia Gandhi 'Visha Kanya'

A day after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a `poisonous snake`, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA in Karnataka on Friday termed the former INC chief Sonia Gandhi a `visha kanye` (venomous lady). Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the BJP legislator from the Vijayapura constituency, questioned Kharge, "if PM Modi is a poisonous snake, then Sonia Gandhi must be visha kanye"? "Being the president of a national party, Kharge does not know how to respect the Prime Minister," Yatnal said at a rally. 

Reacting to this, Karnataka unit Congress president D.K. Shivakumar said "no one knows what will happen to Yatnal for using such a low-level language." "The Congress would not tolerate Yatnal`s remark. BJP leaders must tender apology for this. PM Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai should also apologise, and sack Yatnal from the party," Shivakumar said. The Congress leader said it is a bad habit of the BJP leaders to issue statements against the Nehru-Gandhi family.

"Our strength will be known on May 13," he said. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers` Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, and Karnataka Minister for Higher Education C.N. Ashwath Narayan have stated that they do not agree with Yatnal`s statements, and "those were made at an individual level".