"Old habit of insulting country on foreign soil": BJP's Sambit Patra slams Rahul Gandhi's remarks in US

New Delhi [India], April 21 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sambit Patra slammed Rahul Gandhi on Monday for claiming that the Election Commission has been 'compromised.' Patra said this is an "old habit" of the Congress leader to insult the country on foreign soil.
"I have been seeing the media since the morning, there are two important news items, one is Rahul Gandhi's old habit of insulting the country on foreign soil. He has insulted India in the US. This is not a new thing. He has been doing this for a long time," Patra said in Delhi.
Patra said that if the Gandhi family thinks they are on the right side of history by insulting the country abroad, then they are "on the wrong side of the line."
"The person, and his mother, who are out on bail of Rs 50,000, if they feel they can destroy the image of this great democracy by going abroad and speaking their then they are totally on the wrong side of the line"
Criticising the Congress party's call for holding a press conference to counter the Central government, he likened it to a thief making a lot of noise.
"Another big news is that from today, the big leaders of Congress, like Chor machaye shor (thief making a lot of noise), will go to various places and hold a press conference to save the son and mother. ED has mentioned the names of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in its chargesheet, and they could even go to jail for looting the country, and they should go," he said.
Accusing the Congress of "creating an atmosphere of unrest" by protesting against the chargesheet, he added, "Meanwhile, the Congress party is creating an atmosphere of unrest in the entire country."
Earlier, while addressing the Indian Diaspora in Boston, United States, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission (EC) in India was "compromised," stating that there was something fundamentally wrong with the system.
Citing the example of the Maharashtra elections, the Senior Congress leader stated that there was an addition of 65 lakh voters to the voter list in two hours, which was impossible.
He claimed, "More people voted in Maharashtra than the total number of people in Maharashtra, and this is a fact... the Election Commission gave us a figure in the evening around 5:30 p.m., and in two hours around 7:30 p.m., 65 lakh voters had voted, which is physically impossible.
However, sources in the Election Commission have previously stated that allegations made by Political parties about manipulated electoral rolls were unfounded. According to the sources, hardly any first or second appeals were made under Section 24 of the Representation of People act, or correction of any entries in Electoral Rolls (Section 22) or Inclusion (Section 23) during the recent Special Summary Revision published on January 6-7 2025. (ANI)