Key Points

“Where is the proof. Let them substantiate their allegation with evidence. When we made the allegation of ‘vote theft’, we presented evidence at Rahul Gandhi’s media conference on August 7. Let them also do the same,” Khera told IANS.

Khera, Chairman, Media and Publicity Department, All India Congress Committee, said making allegations without presenting any proof related to the past won’t serve any purpose. “They should bring evidence related to that period,” he said.

The Congress party has been spearheading a campaign on the alleged 'vote theft' issue in poll-bound Bihar. Its senior leader, Rahul Gandhi, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav are undertaking the 16-day Voter Adhikar Yatra against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Earlier in the day, Khera hit out at the BJP for its “baseless” allegation that the INDIA bloc’s Vice-Presidential candidate and former Supreme Court Judge B. Sudershan Reddy is pro-Maoism.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for a person with a legal background like Ravi Shankar Prasad to comment without reading the Supreme Court judgement on the basis of which such unsubstantiated allegations are being made,” he said.

The apex court judgment, which Justice Reddy delivered along with other colleagues on the bench, clearly deprecates Maoism and says that security should be provided by government forces and not by armed citizens who were organised under the banner of ‘Salwa Judum’, he said.

Khera accused the BJP of adopting double standards vis-à-vis Justice Reddy as the party’s government in Goa, at one point of time, appointed the former judge as Lokayukta.

“At that time, the BJP forgot about ‘Salwa Judum’,” he said, warning that this double speak is not going to work anymore.

The Congress leader also criticised the government’s economic and foreign policies in the backdrop of the US government deciding to impose 50 per cent tariff on Indian exports.

- IANS