The BJP has demanded an apology from the Congress after its president Mallikarjun Kharge called the Modi government “illegal”.

Speaking in Kalaburagi on Saturday, Kharge said all elections were illegal. He called Prime Minister Narendra Modi an “illegal Prime Minister” and Home Minister Amit Shah an “illegal Minister”.

Kharge demanded the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. He said fresh polls should be held through ballot papers. His remarks came amid opposition agitations against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi hit back on Sunday. He said the BJP was the first non-Congress government to come to power with a clear majority. He asked the entire Congress to apologise for the words.

Trivedi said the Congress had vanished from several states decades ago. He listed Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The row has sharpened the already bitter exchange between the two parties over election integrity.