On Wednesday, Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge hinted that the party was having financial difficulties. He claimed that the BJP-led NDA government had frozen bank accounts containing contributions from individuals, and that the Income Tax department had fined the party heavily.
Kharge also urged the populace to unite and secure his party’s victory in the next Lok Sabha elections in order to “save” the nation’s democracy and Constitution, taking aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Accusing the BJP of freezing the bank accounts of the Congress and levying heavy fines on the party through Income Tax, Kharge stated that everyone should have equal opportunities in elections and that “they are not ready to disclose thousands of crores of rupees they have got through electoral bonds, despite Supreme Court’s directions.”

In the last elections, Kharge lost to Umesh Jadhav of the BJP in Gulbarga by a margin of 95,452 votes. Being referred to as “Solillada Saradara” (a leader without defeat), it was his first electoral setback in a number of years as a politician.

There is a lot of speculation that Kharge, who oversees the party’s national operations and works with the INDIA bloc, might not run in the Lok Sabha elections. Instead, the party is expected to field his son-in-law, businessman Radhakrishna Doddamani, who also oversees educational institutions.