Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President B K Hariprasad on Wednesday endorsed state Home Minister Priyank Kharge's demand that the RSS keep their registration documents ready.

He said Kharge was acting well within his constitutional rights.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The RSS calls itself a patriotic and cultural organisation, hence it must be registered... if they don't, it is for the Home Minister to decide what action to take."

During his first visit to the party headquarters here after being appointed as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress President, he said that he will officially take charge on June 21.

"Priyank Kharge is part of the government. He is the Minister holding the Home department charge, and he has all the rights within the constitution, what he has said, I endorse it," Hariprasad said in response to a question about Kharge's statement asking the RSS to keep their registration documents ready.

"Kharge is acting within the constitution of the country. He has all the right. Any patriotic organisation -- they (RSS) call themselves a patriotic organisation, they should be registered. They say it is a cultural organisation, they have to register. If not, it is for the Home Minister to decide what action he has to take."

Taking a jibe at the BJP, Kharge had recently asked the saffron party to tell its "political superiors" -- the RSS -- to keep their registration documents ready.

Kharge referred to the RSS as a 'Body of Individuals', as he accused the Sangh and BJP of "abusing and threatening him", citing a social media post by an individual.

In November 2025, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in a veiled response to Congress leaders criticising the Sangh for operating without registration, said the organisation is recognised as a body of individuals.

According to him, the IT department and courts have termed RSS as a body of individuals and the organisation was exempted from income tax.

Kharge has earlier repeatedly pointed out that the RSS is an unregistered organisation, accusing it of indulging in "money laundering" and questioning its source of income.

Reacting to the rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination paper in Madhya Pradesh, Hariprasad said that while the BJP has indulged in "vote theft" all these days, they have now stooped to the low of indulging in "seat theft".

"This is nothing new. Two months ago, during the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, Congress had 37 votes. While we needed only 31 votes to win, we received only 27. They (BJP) got four votes invalidated. In 2016, during an election, Congress had 14 votes, they got all 14 invalid and got a BJP candidate elected. This is nothing new. As part of a conspiracy, they are trying to destroy democracy and trying to function by violating the constitution. We strongly condemn it," he said.

Calling the development "unfortunate", the state Congress chief held Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah responsible for the episode.

He alleged a major conspiracy involving collusion between the Election Commission, the Returning Officer and the BJP.

"If these things continue, it is the end of democracy, they are violating the norms of the constitution," he added.