Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress hits back at PM Modi, says he is 'desperate, nervous'

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of being desperate and nervous after Modi, in a veiled dig at Sonia Gandhi, said when a Congress leader quit the Lok Sabha to enter Parliament via Rajya Sabha, he foresaw the party's imminent defeat.

Modi on Friday asserted that the Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha polls will be an 'all-time low', as the grand old party will struggle to cross even the 'half-century' mark in the hustings.

The prime minister also mocked Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli seat, and said the Congress leader did so after 'sensing defeat' in Kerala's Wayanad, where he is a sitting MP.

"A desperate and nervous Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again attacked Shrimati Sonia Gandhi for becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha," AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

"He seems to have forgotten that Atal Behari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vijayaraje Scindia, Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were all members of the Rajya Sabha.

"In more recent times, his own party president JP Nadda, who is from Himachal Pradesh, is also a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat. And of course the Swayambhu Chankaya was also a Member of the Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. What does he have to say about them," Ramesh asked.

Modi on Friday said, "There is no need for opinion polls or exit polls, as I had talked about their (Congress) defeat long back in Parliament. When their senior leader quit her Lok Sabha seat and entered Parliament through Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, it was evident they sensed defeat," he said, in an apparent dig at Sonia Gandhi.

"Now, the 'shehzada' of the Congress, who went to Wayanad after losing the Amethi seat, is also contesting from Rae Bareli. He knows he will lose Wayanad this time," Modi said.

He said Rahul Gandhi should not be afraid and 'keep running away'.

"I had said earlier that the 'prince', after the polling in Wayanad, would look for another seat due to fear of defeat in that constituency. Now, he had to run away from Amethi and choose Rae Bareli. They go around and ask people not to feel afraid. I would tell them the same thing -- don't be afraid and don't run away," the prime minister said.

Addressing back-to-back rallies in the Bardhaman-Durgapur, Krishnanagar and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies, the prime minister said if the Congress is voted to power, it will 'snatch' quotas meant for the Scheduled Caste, Dalits and OBCs and give those to its 'jihadi vote bank' to pursue the party's 'appeasement politics'.

Modi slammed the opposition's INDIA bloc and the Congress for 'supporting' the 'vote jihad' comments made by a candidate of the Samajwadi Party (SP), an ally of the grand old party in Uttar Pradesh.