Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not following the principles of B R Ambedkar and said he would have expelled those from the BJP who talked about “changing the Constitution”, in an apparent reference to party MP Anantkumar Hegde’s “rewriting the Constitution of India” remarks.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Kharge said, “I have to say with great sadness that the BJP has not accepted the Constitution in its entirety. On one hand, Prime Minister Modi says that the Constitution will not be changed and on the other side he makes his people say that they need a two-third majority to change it. It is not said by any fringe element but by MPs, BJP leaders and RSS.”

Attacking the Prime Minister, the Congress chief said, “Prime Minister always talks about Dr Ambedkar, but does not follow his principles . If he had believed , he would have expelled those from the party who talked about changing the Constitution.”

In an apparent reference to Hedge’s remarks, he said, “If PM Modi has courage then he should remove the leader from the party who talked about changing the Constitution. On one hand, he himself remains silent on such things and on the other hand he talks about protecting the Constitution.”

“The Constitutions that Dr Ambedkar gave to the country was rejected by the BJP. The BJP is making such efforts to snatch away the rights of the poor of the country,” he said.

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha further said, “RS-BJP has no contribution in giving independence to the country and making the constitution. They also continued to oppose the tricolor.”

Earlier, he said that the Congress will not allow “these ulterior motives to succeed.”

“It is the responsibility of every Indian to protect our democracy and Constitution,” added Kharge.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi’s silence on BJP MP’s statement of ‘changing the constitution’ is dangerous.”

“Changing the Constitution, India’s most precious heritage, means pushing the country towards slavery,” he wrote on X.