Modi tears into Congress claim to respecting democracy

“He must be searching for toffees and balloons,” Modi said, refering to often-repeated barbs of Rahul at his developmental claims which the Congress leader has derided as “toffee-model” and “baloon”.

Modi also cited the registration of a criminal case by the CBI against senior IB officials in Ishrat Jahan encounter case to target the Congress-led UPA government and alleged that it pitted two “vital” institutions against each other.

In the strongest-ever attack on BJP in the current campaign, Sonia Gandhi had appealed to people to defeat “divisive and autocratic” forces which will “destroy” the Indian ethos.

The appeal for support to Congress, in the form of a short televised speech, saw Gandhi launching an all-out attack on BJP saying its vision is “clouded with hatred and falsehood” and its ideology is “divisive and autocratic”.

Modi, however, did not reply to her attack on BJP in his speech. He expressed confidence over the BJP's performance in the elections to 232 seats in Lok Sabha elections so far and said it was clear that the current Congress government has been “unseated by people”.

“We have to work for a strong government in the remaining seats. We have to aim for 300 plus seats. A strong government can take strong steps and your strong intentions can then bear fruits,” he said.