Mangaluru(PTI): All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said the party would welcome anyone who accepts its ideology and follows the party leadership.

Addressing reporters here, he said he could not predict what would happen in future in politics.

"I don't have prophecies and we have not taken anyone to the party by checking their blood," he said on the statement by BJP leader K S Eshwarappa that Jagadish Shettar would return to the BJP. "If they accept our ideology, they are welcome," he said.

On Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's remark that Lingayats' support would add to the BJP's tally, Kharge said it showed that the government under him had not done any work on the field. "It is clear that the BJP has not done any developmental work. He is not claiming that the BJP will come to power on the basis of their work."

Kharge said the BJP was obviously not in a winning position and were making statements out of frustration. "Political parties should work on their ideologies. If any party fights elections on the basis of caste or religion, it is not good for the country as well as for democracy," he said.

Kharge is on a two-day tour of the coastal districts of Karnataka as part of the campaign for the May 10 elections.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has arrested five of a family for allegedly assaulting a police officer and snatching his service pistol during a raid in the Sultanpuri area, an official said on Wednesday.

The accused are Rajender (50), his sons Ritik (24), Sachin (29), Abhishek (26), and his daughter Komal (22). 

The incident occurred on September 2, when a team from the Anti-Narcotics Task Force arrested Alka, wife of Rajender, for possession of heroin, police said.

During the raid, Alka's family members attacked a police officer with sticks and bricks and snatched his service pistol, mobile phone, and wallet. However, the officer managed to recover his service pistol, they said.

Police said that an FIR was registered and an investigation was launched.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the accused, absconding since the incident, from a flat in Raghubir Nagar in Delhi.