NEW DELHI – Indian PM Narendra Modi has taken a swipe at his Pakistanicounterpart Imran Khan over his claim that Indo-Pak peace talks will have abetter chance if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins in Lok Sabha polls,saying it was an attempt by the former cricketer to influence the electionsin India with his reverse swing.
Narendra Modi also noted that Imran Khan had used a slogan targeting himduring Pakistan elections, PTI has reported.
*”We should not forget that Imran Khan was a cricketer and his recentstatement was an attempt at reverse swing to influence Indian elections.However, Indians know how to hit a ‘helicopter shot’ on a reverse swingingdelivery,”* the top BJP leader told The Times of India in an interviewpublished on Wednesday (April 17).
*”We should also remember how he used Narendra Modi’s name during Pakistanelections. His slogan was: ‘Modi ka jo yaar hai, woh gaddar hai, woh gaddarhai’,”* the Prime Minister added.
The Congress had used Imran Khan’s comments to corner the BJP, which hasoften hurled pro-Pakistan barbs at its rivals.
In the interview, Narendra Modi also expressed confidence that the BJP willwin more seats than before, saying he is seeing “unprecedented” support forthe party and that the first phase of polling on April 11 has reinforcedhis confidence.
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Narendra Modi had led the BJP to its first ever majority in the Lok Sabhapolls in 2014 winning 282 of the total 543 seats.
To a question about criticism that that the BJP has resorted to”hyper-nationalism” instead of focusing on real issues in its campaign, heasserted that a large part of speeches is dedicated to the issues ofdevelopment but they never make headlines.
Narendra Modi then asked if decades of terrorism and deaths of soldierscannot be considered as real issues.
Attacking his rivals like the Congress, Narendra Modi said, *”Those who didabsolutely nothing on the critical issue of national security are nowhaving problems when India’s national security doctrine has seen astrategic shift.”*
