Kishan Reddy Demands Rahul Gandhi To Withdraw ‘Deshdrohi’ Remarks

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday hit back at Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, asking him to withdraw what he described as “deshdrohi” (traitor) remarks.

Kishan Reddy said such language against leaders elected by millions of people was unacceptable and urged Gandhi to exercise restraint. He also defended Modi, saying the Prime Minister had earned recognition in India and abroad for his emphasis on putting the country first.

Gandhi had on Thursday intensified his attack on the Centre and the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He accused Modi, Shah and Gyanesh Kumar of undermining the country’s voting system, demanded the CEC’s resignation and alleged that “vote chori” was taking place.

Responding to the allegations, Kishan Reddy referred to the Supreme Court’s September 24 verdict upholding the disqualification of former Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the anti-defection law. Nagender had won the 2023 Assembly election on a BRS ticket, later joined the Congress and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket while still an MLA. The Supreme Court found no reason to interfere with the Telangana High Court’s order.

Kishan Reddy alleged that after the Congress government came to power in Telangana, 10 MLAs elected from other parties were brought into the Congress fold. He argued that changing political allegiance after winning an election raised questions about respecting the mandate given by voters.

On SIR, Kishan Reddy questioned Gandhi’s claim that the exercise benefited the BJP. He cited Tamil Nadu, where SIR was undertaken without the BJP forming the government, and Kerala, where the Congress-led UDF came to power after the exercise. He also referred to West Bengal figures cited by him to argue that the constituencies with large-scale deletions did not uniformly benefit the BJP.

Kishan Reddy further defended the Election Commission as an independent constitutional institution, recalling former CECs M.S. Gill and T.N. Seshan and arguing that the poll panel should not be portrayed as an arm of any political party.

He said Indian voters continue to participate in elections with faith in the ballot and alleged that comparing Indian voters with people in countries such as Iraq and North Korea amounted to disrespecting the electorate.