Katihar: Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu stoked a controversy on Tuesday after he made a communal appeal to Muslim voters, urging them to vote for Congress in order to defeat PM Narendra Modi. The actor-turned-politician made a vote appeal on religious lines while addressing a rally in Bihar’s Katihar. Sidhu told Muslim voters that owing to their large number of population in the state, no one would be able to defeat Congress so long they remained unified and voted for Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party. The Punjab cabinet minister also appealed to the voters to not let parties such as Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM “split” the votes from Congress.

Sidhu said at a Bihar rally “Main aapko chetavni dena aya hun Muslim bhaiyon, ye baant rahe hain aapko, ye yahan Owaisi jaise logon ko la ke,ek nai party sath mein khadi kar aap logon ki vote baant ke jitna chahte hain.Agar tum log ikkathe hue,ek jut hoke vote dala toh Modi sulat jaega (I have come here to warn you Muslim brother. They are trying to divide you. By bringing in people like Owaisi here and helping a new party form their base here, they are trying to divide your votes. If you all stand united and vote, then Modi can be defeated),”.

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Here it is to be noted that the development comes after the Election Commission took action against Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, BSP chief Mayawati and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi for seeking votes on communal lines and violating the model code of conduct. On Monday, the poll panel barred Adityanath from campaigning for three days, while Mayawati was awarded a similar ban for two days.

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At a recent rally in Deoband, Mayawati had asked Muslim voters not to “split” their votes between Congress and her BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Yogi, on the other hand, had commented that Congress, BSP, and SP had “Ali”, BJP had the support of “Bajrangbali”.

Later, the EC also imposed a two-day ban on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, while also imposing a ban on three days on Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan after he made objectionable comments against BJP candidate Jaya Prada.

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