CBI, not the Congress, will fight the polls: Modi

Addressing a "Karyakarta Mahakumbh" (party workers' mega conclave) here, Modi, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, took repeated digs at the Congress and called upon party workers to rid the country of the party that heads the coalition central government.

Narendra Modi. File pic

"The Congress is not going to put up its candidates. It is not the Congress but the CBI which will fight the polls. The Congress does not have the capacity to fight the BJP. They have fielded the CBI. It (Congress) should hear clearly how it had been paid back by people for atrocities of the emergency," Modi said.

Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a state of emergency in 1975 that lasted 18 months during which political opponents were jailed, civil liberties curtailed and press censored.

Modi, who was the main speaker at the rally which was also addressed by party veteran L.K. Advani, said the Congress will fight the coming electoral battles through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The BJP has often accused the Congress of misusing the CBI for its political ends.

Modi claimed that Mahatma Gandhi had expressed a desire that the Congress should be disbanded and called upon party workers to help "realise the dream".