NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) President Amit Shah flayed Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Duryodhan, from the epic Mahabharata, and said the Lok Sabha poll results on May 23 will determine whether Modi is Duryodhan or Arjun (the protagonist of Mahabharata).

"Priyanka Gandhi has compared Modi Ji with Duryodhan. People of the country will decide who is Duryadhan and who is Arjun on May 23. Priyanka Ji, do not worry, people will tell you whether Modi Ji is Duryodan or Arjun," Amit Shah said at an election rally in Bengal's Midnapore.

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Earlier in the day, while addressing a rally in Ambala in Haryana, Priyanka Gandhi used the Mahabharata analogy to hit back at PM Modi over his "Bhrashtachari (corrupt) No. 1" remarks at her father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and said: "Modi is as arrogant as Duryodhan".

Taking a swipe at the parties in the opposition Grand Alliance, Mr. Shah said here that its leaders have abused and insulted Modi more than 51 times in the run-up to the 2019 elections.

"The alliance partners have abused Modi ji more than 51 times so far," he said. "Congress leaders like Pawan Khera compared Modi Ji with Osama Bin Laden, Vijayashanthi termed him a terrorist, Mallikarjuna Kharge called him Hitler, while Sanjay Nirupam ridiculed him as a village dweller. Are these not insults to a Prime Minister?" "If a former Prime Minister is insulted, the Congress leaders get shaken but when the present Prime Minister is insulted they do not utter a word of protest," he added.

Mr. Shah also backed Modi's remarks about former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying referring to true incidents cannot be termed as insults towards someone and asked Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi to clarify why incidents like the Bofors defense deal case or the Bhopal gas tragedy happened when his father was in the Prime Minister's seat.

"Rahul Gandhi is saying that his father has been insulted. Tell me, can reminding someone about the truth be termed as an insult?" Shah asked the audience at the rally. "Modi ji said that the Bofors scandal happened during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi. Did he say anything wrong? Rahul Gandhi should tell the people whether the Bofors scam, Bhopal gas tragedy, the Shanti Sena blunder and the genocide of Kashmiri pandits took place during the time when his father was the Prime Minister or not," he added.

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