Congress spewing poison: Modi

• ‘Gujarat is free of riots and will make UP also riot-free if voted to power’
• Modi attacks AAP govt over Arunachal boy's death, midnight raid

Meerut : Narendra Modi hit back at Sonia Gandhi over her 'zeher ki kheti' barb, saying it is the Congress which sows and spews poison and reaps the harvest from it by its divisive politics.

Modi accused the Congress of putting one religion against another, one caste against another and one state against another.

"Sonia Gandhi has told Rahul that power is poison. Who has been in power for most of the time during the last 60 years?.. In whose stomach has this poison gone? Who is spewing this poison? Who is harvesting the poison? They (Congress) are the ones who sow the seeds of poison," the BJP prime ministerial candidate said at a rally here.

He said the country is seeking answers from Congress to its issues but its replies are wayward. "People are asking Sonia Gandhi why farmers are committing suicide, her reply is people are sowing seeds of poison."

Modi's counter-attack came a day after Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Karnataka accused Modi and BJP of indulging in divisive politics by "sowing seeds of poison" (zeher ki kheti) and instigating violence in their "hunger" for power. In his 50-minute speech, Modi attacked the Congress, ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the AAP government in Delhi and sought a mandate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by projecting himself as 'chowkidar' who will guard public funds. The Gujarat CM said that he had made his state free of riots and would make UP also riot-free if his government is voted to power.

Taking on AAP, which is being seen as a potential spoiler for BJP in Lok Sabha election, Modi said the recent "humiliation" of an African woman by its government in Delhi brought "disgrace" to India globally.

Citing the recent murder of an Arunachal Pradesh student "under the nose of Sonia Gandhi" and the reported beating of a Manipur girl in the capital, Modi said such incidents have dented the image of Delhi and India. Delhi should be seen as a global city, he said.

Meanwhile, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, who resigned from the Indian Police Service or IPS on January 31, has joined the BJP.

Singh, who is speculated to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket, attended a party rally in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut today and shared the stage with BJP leaders like Amit Shah. He also addressed the rally briefly before BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi arrived.

"So far my sphere of work was limited to Mumbai, now I want to serve the country. I want to focus on working for social harmony, national integration.”