Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling “blatant lies”, terming the adulation for him “unfortunate”.

“What should I say if we have a Prime Minister who speaks blatant lies? He must not have taken the name of (Lord) Ram as many times as he has hurled diatribes at us. His abundant use of invectives against the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and me is known to the people. It is unfortunate for the country if someone says he is intelligent or a statesman,” the Congress president said in Lucknow.

Kharge was addressing a joint news conference along with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

He said Modi’s “farewell” had been decided by the people in the last four phases of polling.

“The mood of the country is such that the INDIA bloc is going to form the government on June 4. The election of 2024 is the most important event in the country because it is meant to save democracy and the Constitution. It is between two ideologies — those who have been fighting for the poor and those who stand by the rich and promote superstition.”

He claimed that the INDIA bloc was formed with 26 parties against Modi’s rule during which unemployment and inflation had soared.

“I can tell you with confidence that the INDIA bloc is contesting this election very well and reassure the people that we will work for them. We have received reports that the BJP is lagging behind the INDIA (bloc),” Kharge said.

The Congress chief reiterated that the Modi government would change the Constitution if voted to power for the third consecutive term.

“They had given the 400-plus slogan and the BJP’s nominees in Meerut and Ayodhya (Arun Govil and Lallu Singh, respectively) said that they needed so many seats to change the Constitution. Earlier, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said the same thing. They need a two-thirds majority for this purpose,” he said.

Kharge wondered why Modi, who pounces on his rivals at the slightest slip of the tongue, remained tight-lipped when his party leaders and the RSS said that his government would change the Constitution.

“This is proof that he is gearing up to do so (change the Constitution) if voted to power again. He should have said clearly that those who were talking about scrapping the Constitution were traitors. He only talks about mutton, chicken and mangalsutra in his speeches,” Kharge said.

Ridiculing Modi for his 400-plus slogan, Kharge said: “I thank Modi for not giving the 600-plus slogan.”

Soon after becoming the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2017, Adityanath had closed all slaughterhouses in the state. Restaurants were prevented from selling non-vegetarian food. Many of the slaughterhouses were reopened after the issue of fresh licences. Modi has said in many of his election speeches that the INDIA bloc would seize the mangalsutras of women if they formed the government. However, political analysts claim that the Prime Minister’s remark seems to have boomeranged and harmed the BJP in the election.

Akhilesh claimed that the “chariot of the BJP has already sunk”.

“The BJP’s lies had reached the peak and now the party is sliding down. I even congratulate friends in the media because the golden time will come on June 4 (when the results will be announced) when the media will also be liberated. That would be the freedom of media day,” the SP boss said.

Akhilesh had in the past alleged that businessmen close to Modi had bought most of the media houses and were working as his political instruments.

“The language of the BJP has changed because they know that they are losing the election. The truth is the BJP is losing 79 seats in Uttar Pradesh but it is in contest in Kyoto,” Akhilesh said, taking a jibe at Modi.

After becoming the Prime Minister in 2014, Modi had said he would develop his parliamentary constituency Varanasi as Kyoto in Japan. However, the people of Varanasi still get stuck in traffic jams and struggle for drinking water and cleanliness.