Prime minister Narendra Modi today launched a scathing attack on the Congress during his rally in Itarsi town under the Hoshangabad Lok Sabha seat, saying that the grand old party was driven by hatred and dreamt of killing Modi. Referring to comments made during a speech by Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, PM Modi said that a Congress leader in his speech had said that Modi should be knocked out in a manner that he lands in Pakistan. He alleged that the grand old party had immense hatred for Modi and dreamt of killing him.
“People in Congress have such immense hatred against Modi, that they have started having dreams about killing Modi,” Modi said while addressing a rally in Itarsi.
The Prime Minister also referred to controversial preacher Zakir Naik and targetted the Congress party and its Bhopal candidate Digvijay Singh for hoisting him on their shoulders. “The actions by Sri Lanka following the attacks that killed 300 include banning the television channel of Zakir Naik. This is the same Zakir Naik against whom this government had imposed a ban on. This is the same Zakir Naik in whose programmes Congress leader Digvijay Singh would attend and he is the same man whom the Congress hoisted on its shoulders.”
The BJP has fielded sitting MP Rao Uday Pratap Singh from Hoshangabad who will be up against senior Congress leader Shailendra Diwan. Hoshangabad will vote during the fifth phase polling on May 6.
In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress had won just 2. Having won the assembly elections held in the state last year, Congress would be hoping that chief minister Kamal Nath’s farm loan waivers would pay dividends. The party claims that over 22 lakh farmers benefitted from the scheme before the model code of conduct came into effect.