Kolkata, May 3: Taking another dig at the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the "Shehzada" fears defeat in Wayanad which is why he has also been fielded from the Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh which will act as an "escape route".

"I said it before that the 'Shehzada' (prince) will be defeated from Wayanad and soon after the elections at Wayanad will be over, he will go in search of a second seat. His followers were claiming that he will fight from Amethi. But, it seems that he is scared of Amethi too. So now the 'prince' is trying to find an escape route from Raebareli," PM Modi said while addressing a rally at Burdwan in West Bengal.

"I had already said in the Parliament that their (Congress) biggest leader will not dare to fight elections and she will run away. She ran away to Rajasthan and came to the Rajya Sabha.. Today, I am also telling them not to be scared. Do not escape," he added.

Prime Minister Modi launched a scathing attack against Congress and other allies of the opposition INDIA bloc, accusing them of speaking about "vote-jihad" during the ongoing elections.

"Previously they practised 'vote-jihad' silently. Now they are publicly announcing it. Their allies like Trinamool Congress and the Left parties are remaining silent in support," said PM Modi.

He said that the only aim of Congress is to introduce religion-based reservation in India.

"As per the Indian Constitution, religion-based reservation is not permissible. But Congress is exactly trying to do that. They are planning to do this by reducing the reservation quota for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. I challenged them to give it in writing that they are not in favour of religion- based reservation but they have remained silent," he said.

He also asserted that it seems that Congress is in the mood to punish people from SC, ST and OBC backgrounds since they have overwhelmingly supported BJP in the last few elections.

(IANS)

Argus English | argus english | Odisha Latest News, Breaking News, Trending News, Live TV