Pawan Khera took to the AICC office in New Delhi on Friday, October 16, to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s claim that the Congress and its allies were seeking to topple the central government through youth‑led unrest.
Khera said the party is running a campaign titled "Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod" and that the whole country now openly endorses the message of electoral change.
The opposition has long used the electoral process to contest the ruling BJP, a strategy that saw the Janata Party oust the government in 1977 after the Emergency.
Rajnath Singh, speaking in Lucknow earlier this week, accused opposition leaders of turning young people into pawns of disorder and of destabilising the country through protests targeting the Election Commission.
Khera dismissed the allegations, calling the opposition’s focus on regime change a national security threat, and urged supporters to mobilise for the upcoming elections rather than engage in political violence.
The party will push its "Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod" message into the next general election, with a scheduled press briefing on November 5 to outline its strategy.