Who is the rotten mango in Cong: Shehzad Poonawalla questions Kharge’s remark

New Delhi: Reacting to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s remark likening underperforming leaders to “bad mangoes,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Thursday questioned who Kharge was referring to, asking, “Who is the rotten mango in Congress?”

Kharge, while addressing the inaugural District Congress Presidents’ training camp in Junagadh on Wednesday, emphasised the need to “remove bad mangoes before the entire box is rotten.”

The Congress chief was reiterating the party’s recent stance on showing the door to “compromised” and “non-performing” leaders. He referred to an internal report which revealed that 19 out of 41 city and district Congress units in Gujarat were lagging in performance.

Kharge called on party members to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots and booth levels, while highlighting the importance of discipline, dedication, and ideological commitment, as well as adapting to changing times to “save democracy.”

Responding to Kharge’s remark, BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla told IANS, “Sometimes, Kharge tells the truth. He said that non-performing Congress leaders are like rotten mangoes that will spoil the whole box. But it will be interesting to see — who is the rotten mango? What’s the criteria? If someone loses 99 elections, are they considered rotten?

Poonawalla further recalled previous remarks made by Rahul Gandhi, saying, “Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had compared Congress leaders to horses — a wedding horse, a race horse, and unfit horses. Who were those remarks directed at? Kharge should clarify. But yes, he spoke the truth this time. I just hope the Congress doesn’t take action against him for saying so.”

He further reacted to the Madras High Court’s dismissal of a PIL that had sought a response from the Election Commission of India regarding Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of vote fraud. The court also imposed a fine on the petitioner.

“Rahul Gandhi is the ‘Pinocchio’ of Indian politics. He has turned the role of Leader of Opposition into Leader of Propaganda. He lies constantly — whether it’s about Maharashtra, where the Supreme Court and High Court rebuked him, or Haryana, where even Kumari Selja said no vote theft happened,” Poonawalla said.

He added, “His latest PowerPoint presentation was just another gimmick. He practices ‘hit and run’ politics — or more like ‘spit and run.’ After accusing vote theft in Bihar, Maharashtra, and now even in the Vice-Presidential election, it’s not vote theft, it’s truth theft. He should stop now.”

IANS