Deoghar (Jharkhand), May 15

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday targeted Congress President Rahul Gandhi and said the party was already searching for scapegoats to blame them for the party's eventual Lok Sabha election defeat.

In a veiled attack at Mani Shankar Aiyar and Sam Pitroda of the Congress, Modi told an election rally here that they have been tasked by the party to take the responsibility for the poor showing.

"Two associates of 'naamdar' have taken the front stage. One is his guru (Pitroda) who dismissed the violence against the Sikhs (in 1984) as 'Hua to Hua'.

"The second associate (Aiyar) was hiding after the Gujarat election. He has now surfaced and come to the fore over the last two-three days," the Prime Minister said.

"All these steps are being taken to save 'naamdar' and his family from election defeat" said Modi.

Indeed, there was a competition within the Congress "to become the martyr" in the event of an election defeat, the Prime Minister said.

"The difference between my governance of 55 months and the governance of one family of the Congress for 55 years is clearly visible," Modi said.

"Development is taking place and poverty is declining. There are no corruption charges on my government."

Modi assured the people that their land will not be taken by force. "Till Modi is there, no one will take away the land of the tribals and poor people.

"The Congress used the tribal people as vote bank. It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government which carved out Jharkhand and created a separate Tribal Affairs Ministry," he added.

Modi enumerated the work done by his government for the tribals.

Targeting the Congress on terrorism, Modi said: "The Congress has promised to end the sedition law but BJP will not allow it.

"Both the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are with intruders. Each intruder will be identified as they are a threat to national security and national resources."

Congress searching for scapegoats to save Rahul from blame: Modi