THE BJP on Monday rallied around Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its leaders suffixed their names on social media profiles with “Modi Ka Parivar” and hit back at the Opposition, a day after RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav took a jibe at him for having no family. Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman, and BJP chief JP Nadda were joined by party members from across the country in declaring themselves as “Modi Ka Parivar (Modi’s family)” on their social media accounts, as the ruling party launched a sharp counterattack on the Opposition. BJP Chief Ministers were among the party’s senior leaders, besides its numerous other functionaries who joined the campaign.

 

Many Modi-supporting social media users also made the same change on their pages. Sudhanshu Trivedi, a BJP national spokesperson, told reporters that Opposition parties have been launching personal attacks against Modi and making such “petty” remarks against him for the past 16-17 years. “In that series, yesterday (Sunday), at a rally in Patna, once again such petty remarks were made against Prime Minister Modi by Lalu Prasad Yadav in the presence of I.N.D.I. alliance leaders. This is sad and painful,” Trivedi said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.

 

“He (Yadav) has talked about Modi’s family. I want to remind him (Yadav) that, for Prime Minister Modi, the entire country is his family,” the BJP leader said, asserting that people of the country will give a fitting reply to the “political arrogance” of the Opposition parties. Soon after the rally, BJP leaders added “Modi Ka Parivar” to their profiles. However, a few, especially those who have been denied the party’s ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls, had not done so till 6 pm. They included MPs Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Harsh Vardhan and Rahul Kaswan, all three of them replaced with new faces in the party’s first list of candidates. ‘Diverting from real issues, says Cong: THE Congress took a swipe at the BJP over its campaign of leaders suffixing their names on social media profiles with “Modi Ka Parivar”, saying they were “misleading” the people from real issues and indulging in such tactics as the I.N.D.I.A. bloc was “growing”. Asked about the BJP’s campaign, Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said, “You could see the enthusiasm among the public in Patna yesterday. Everyday I.N.D.I.A. bloc is growing, that is why the BJP people are annoyed.”