A video of a BJP rebel in Himachal Pradesh being purportedly asked by Narendra Modi to withdraw from the election has prompted the Congress to accuse the Prime Minister of remaining obsessed with power when he should be tackling burning national issues.

The video shows a man resembling Kripal Parmar — Independent candidate from Fatehpur who has been suspended from the BJP — talking on the phone with someone he addresses as “Modiji”. Modi is not seen but the voice at the other end of the line resembles the Prime Minister’s. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the BJP had contested the authenticity of the clip till Sunday evening.

While party managers do call up rebels and ask them to withdraw, a Prime Minister doing so himself would be considered surprising.

In the video, the man resembling Parmar, mobile phone pressed to his ear, appears to say: “Modiji, main ek baat kahoon (Modiji, may I say something)?”

A voice similar to Modi’s says, presumably from the other end of the line, “Main kuchh nahin sunoonga (I won’t hear a word).”

The man resembling Parmar purportedly complains about the BJP president, saying J.P. Nadda has been humiliating him for 15 years. The voice at the other end tells Parmar he should pull out of the fray.

There was no evidence till Sunday evening that Parmar has had a change of mind. The BJP has been struggling with a rebellion in Himachal with over 20 from its ranks contesting against official candidates.

The Congress has alleged a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, contending that pressuring a candidate in a democracy is illegal. The party has also questioned Modi’s perpetual engagement with Assembly elections, unusual for a Prime Minister.

“The country is running on auto pilot as the chief pilot is taking rides to deras (religious establishments) and election campaigns. The nation is like Rome, which is burning and the Prime Minister is like Nero who is playing the music of election jingles,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

“These developments show the detours, discrepancies, disparities, divergences, and diversions of the Prime Minister from the real problems of the country.”

Referring to the video, circulated widely on social media, Singhvi said: “Modi can be clearly heard pressurising and emotionally blackmailing BJP rebel Kripal Parmar to not contest as an Independent candidate. This reflects four things: 1. The Prime Minister has got a problematic and distorted priority list. 2. Not governance, but electioneering is his favourite job 3. Modi is misusing his power to influence free and fair elections. 4. The BJP is losing ground in Himachal Pradesh and the PM’s actions and words reflect its fear, frustration and insecurity.”

Singhvi said the Prime Minister’s intervention was a “clear electoral malpractice if not a corrupt electoral practice”.

“Whatever remedies are available to us by way of complaining to the Election Commission and elsewhere shall be exercised. We leave it to the nation to judge whether the exalted office of the Prime Minister should be stooping to such levels qua an MLA’s election.”

Singhvi added: “If the country’s chief executive and the BJP’s de facto chief executive can go to such lengths to win a particular seat, it is the best validation of the BJP’s already proven track record, as to the extent to which the ruling party, with its limitless resources funded through many means, including the dubious electoral bonds, can go and does go to topple elected governments.

“They already have a PhD earned painstakingly in the past in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Manipur and many more milestones of a similar kind.”

Singhvi said the Prime Minister should be addressing problems like the rising prices, joblessness and economic slide instead of indulging his obsession with electioneering.

Modi had faced similar charges when he busied himself campaigning in Bengal last year during the peak of Covid.

Modi, who was in Himachal on Saturday, addressed several programmes on Sunday in Gujarat, where he has been campaigning extensively in person and via videoconferencing over the past few weeks. His last visit to Gujarat came barely five days ago.

Union home minister Amit Shah too has been spending a lot of time campaigning in Gujarat.