DELHI – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a day-long fast onThursday in a tit-for-tat protest against the opposition, whose leaderswere caught feasting moments before they launched their own hunger strike.BJP Chief Amit Shah will hold sit in Dharna against opposition.

The rival protests are part of growing showdown between Modi’s rulingnationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its arch-rival Congress partyahead of a looming national election.

Both sides have suffered social media ridicule over their fasts.

Congress organised a five-hour hunger strike on Monday in a pre-emptivemove against a BJP plan for its fast on Thursday.

But the party was left red-faced after photos of senior leaders tuckinginto chickpea curry served with a savoury dough circulated on social mediaright before the fast.

Congress faced sarcastic comments on Twitter, while the BJP called theirprotest a “joke”.

With Modi set to lead Thursday’s protest, the BJP has reportedly issuedstrict rules to its lawmakers, including a ban on eating at public placesor being photographed noshing on treats before Thursday.

It is also shooing away street food vendors from the protest venue in NewDelhi, according to the Mail Today daily.

Congress has called the BJP’s plans “a farce of a fast”.

The BJP has said it will reject food for a day to show anger at thedisruption of parliamentary business by Congress. Parliament sessions areregularly suspended amid unruly shouting matches.

Modi will fast to expose Congress’s “undemocratic style of functioning andpursuing divisive politics and anti-development agenda”.

Modi, a strictly observant Hindu and teetotal vegetarian, routinely fastsevery year for the Navratri festival — a nine day ritual when he onlytakes liquids during daylight hours.

In a 2012 blog, Modi called his annual fast “an act of self-purification”.