Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Raavan at an election rally in Gujarat drawing sharp reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The Congress leader hit out at the BJP for relying heavily on Modi for every election rather than promoting its regional leaders.
“We see your [Modi’s] face in corporation elections, MLA elections or MP elections, everywhere,” Kharge had said. “Do you have 100 heads like Raavan? Ask for vote in the name of the candidate. Is Modi going to come and work at the municipality? Is he going to help you in times of your need?”
The Assembly polls in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and December 5 and the results will be declared on December 8.
The BJP has rebuked Kharge’s statement and urged voters in Gujarat to take “revenge” for the “insult” of Modi and vote against Congress.
“What Kharge said is condemnable and shows the mindset of the Congress,” BJP spokersperson Sambit Patra said. “This is not merely an insult of Modi but of every Gujarati.”
This is not the first time the Congress has hit out against the BJP for relying on Modi to win elections.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh on November 12, Modi had said that voters need not remember the party’s candidate from their constituency but only need to remember that they have to press the Bharatiya Janata Party symbol of the lotus.
Congress leader P Chidambaram had accused Modi of undermining the basis of constituency-based Parliamentary democracy by asking voters to vote for the party and not the candidate.
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