Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after an MLA from the saffron party in Karnataka called Sonia Gandhi a “vishkanya”.

Talking to reporters here, Baghel said, “It appears that the BJP has the right to speak against others, but if anyone speaks about them then there is a problem.” The Congress has demanded the expulsion of the BJP leader, Basangouda Patil Yatnal, asserting that his remarks are the “worst kind” of sacrilege and abuse against Gandhi at the “instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai”.

“The modus operandi of BJP is clear. They target Sonia Gandhi every time. Their (BJP) national leaders have made baseless remarks against her (Sonia Gandhi) several times,” CM Baghel said.

The “vishkanya” jibe against Gandhi by Yatnal, who is the Bijapur MLA and former minister, at a poll rally came a day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a “poisonous snake”. Campaigning in Karnataka for the May 10 assembly polls is in full swing and the Congress seeks to wrest power from the BJP in the state. Karnataka is the only southern state where the BJP is in power.

“The country wants to know what PM Narendra Modi and (home minister) Amit Shah have to say now,” said Baghel, adding that Congress workers in Chhattisgarh were considering filing a police complaint.

Asked about Kharge’s snake remark against the PM, Baghel said the Congress president has “withdrawn” it.

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