Gujarat polls: ‘Attacked by BJP goons, hid in jungle,’ alleges Cong MLA

Gujarat Congress MLA Kanti Kharadi who allegedly went missing on Sunday (December 4) night, on Monday morning alleged that he was attacked by sword-wielding goons sent by his BJP rival and had to spend the night in a forest after escaping them.

The allegations came on a day 93 seats across 14 district of Gujarat went to polls in the second phase of voting. Kharadi is seeking re-election from the state’s Banaskantha constituency.

On Sunday evening, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that Kharadi has gone missing after being allegedly attacked by BJP goons.

“Congress tribal leader and Danta assembly candidate Kantibhai Kharadi was brutally attacked by BJP goons and is now missing. Congress had demanded deployment of paramilitary force in addition to the Election Commission, but the Commission slept on it. Listen, BJP, we are not afraid, we will not be afraid, we will fight hard,” wrote Rahul.

On Monday morning, Gujarat Congress chief Jagdish Thakor told the media that Kharadi went missing and was untraceable for three hours.

Cong is winning. Our candidate Kanti Kharadi was attacked last night & were untraceable for 3 hrs. We called up EC, reached Gandhinagar at 1.30 am & called them to come there. Complaints by our other candidates are also coming: Guj Cong chief Jagdish Thakor#GujaratAssemblyPolls pic.twitter.com/RjOThgxJfK

— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2022

Kharadi has filed an FIR against Ladhu Parghi, the BJP candidate from the Banaskantha seat.

The BJP, however, has not yet responded to Kharadi’s allegations.

“I was attacked by the BJP candidate and 150 of his goons with swords at around 9:30 pm. They would have killed me, so I ran and hid in a jungle for three-four hours. The police found me after three-four hours,” Kharadi told a prominent news channel on Monday morning.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra begins in Congress-ruled Rajasthan

Kharadi said that he had been to the hospital for treatment.

The incident, according to Kharadi, took place while he was on his way to meet his voters. It was then that the rival BJP candidate and his “goons” surrounded him and blocked his car, Kharadi alleged.

Whatever happened is unfortunate. I was going to my area as there's election. I saw that the atmosphere was heated there so I decided to escape: Cong's Danta constituency candidate Kanti Kharadi on Rahul Gandhi's claim that Kharadi was "brutally attacked by BJP goons&is missing" pic.twitter.com/o27QZygPbO

— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2022

“They blocked us, then we turned the car, and another car blocked us from the other side. Then we left the car and ran. We thought we must escape, we ran for 10-15 km,” he said.

The Gujarat MLA said that this is not the first time that he has been threatened by the BJP candidate. He also alleged that even though he had requested the Election Commission to provide him security, the same was denied.

Also Read: Perform or step down: Kharge cracks whip on Congress office bearers