Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday raised slogans of “24 mein 400 paar” and “Kamal ko 370 paar” at a rally in the Madhya Pradesh tribal belt of Jhabua barely a minute after claiming he had not come to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.

Modi was addressing the rally after inaugurating or laying the foundations for multiple development projects.

“It was said that Modi was coming to Jhabua to sound the poll bugle. I want to tell you that Modi has not come here to campaign. Modi, as the servant, has come to express gratitude to the godly people of Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

He said the people of Madhya Pradesh had via the Assembly elections provided a preview of their mood ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He claimed that even Opposition leaders had begun acknowledging that the BJP was headed for a huge victory.

"Madhya Pradesh has also shown that the popularity of the BJP's double-engine governments has been rising. So this time, even big leaders of the Opposition and that too in Parliament have started saying, '400 plus in 24'," Modi said.

He then chanted "Chaubis mein..." and the crowd completed the slogan with "400 paar".

Modi followed it up with "Fir ek baar..." and the crowd shouted back, "Modi sarkar".

Modi had raised the "400 plus" cry in the Lok Sabha early this week while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address. This is the first time he has used it at a public rally.

The battle cry is being seen as part of psychological warfare to intimidate and demoralise the Opposition, especially the Congress, ahead of the elections.

Modi said that while he agreed with the Opposition's "400 plus" seats prediction for the NDA, he was sure that the BJP would alone bag more than 370 seats. The mention of 370 seats is being seen as an oblique allusion to the abrogation of Article 370, which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir and whose removal was a core ideological issue with the BJP.

"Akela BJP, akela kamal ka nishan 370 paar karega (The BJP alone, the lotus symbol alone, will cross 370)," Modi said amid cries of "Jai Shri Ram" from the crowd.

Modi went on to teach the crowd, apparently filled with BJP cadres, how to achieve the target. He said he would publicly give out the "jadi-butti" (medicine) to cross 370 seats.

He asked party cadres to get the count of votes polled by the BJP at their polling booths over the last three elections.

"Write down the highest number the BJP has polled in the three elections. Now add 370 new votes to it.... That should be your target and the party will cross the 370 seats tally," Modi said.

He asked the cadres to take the voters' list and start knocking on doors to achieve the target.

"If you follow this mantra and add 370 new votes at every polling booth, 370+ seats are assured," he added.

Modi claimed that a pro-BJP mood prevailed in every corner of the country, including the southern states. He said he had been able to gauge the popular mood during his recent visits to temples in the south ahead of the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya.

"My trip to the south was for puja-paath (worship) with no public event. But the mood I saw among mothers, sisters, the elderly, children and the youth --- thousands came out to bless me. I felt the power of the people of this country and their unbelievable love for me," he said.

Targeting the Congress, Modi said the party had been "sent on leave" in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh but would be "wiped out" in the Lok Sabha polls.

He accused the Congress of using "janjatiyas" (tribal communities) as a vote bank without caring for them.

Modi claimed there was unrest in the Congress and its leaders were desperate to defect. "Those who ignore the people face this fate. The Congress has now got stuck in the muck of its sins. The more it tries to come out, the further it will sink," he said.

He accused the party of conspiring to "divide" the country on "caste, language and region", and asked people to be vigilant.

"The Congress resorts to loot when in power and conspires to divide when out of power. The party is filled with hatred for tribals and it was evident when it tried its best to defeat a tribal woman from becoming President of the country," he said.

He said the tribal people would never forget this and would teach the Congress a lesson.