New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a 'poisonous' snake, drawing the Bharatiya Janata Party's ire. Addressing a public meeting in poll-bound Karnataka's Gadag district, Kharge said that 'Modi is like a poisonous snake'.


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"Don't make a mistake. Modi is like a poisonous snake. If you say, 'No, it's not poisonous. Let's lick it and find out.' Don't go to lick it. If you lick, you will die," Mallikarjun Kharge told the gathering.



The Congress chief, however, later told reporters that he only said the BJP was like a snake, and that the party's ideology is like a poison. 


"If you support that ideology and lick (try) it, death is certain... I did not speak against him (Modi) because I have already said that I never make personal comments," he said.



Kharge also took to his official Twitter account and said that his statement was neither for PM Modi nor for any other person.


"BJP's ideology is divisive, disharmonious, full of hatred and prejudiced towards the poor and Dalits. I discussed the politics of hatred and malice. My statement was neither for PM Modi nor for any other person but for the ideology he represents," he said in a series of tweets in Hindi.


He added that his fight with Prime Minister Modi is not a personal fight but an ideological battle.


"My intention was not to hurt anyone's feelings and if knowingly or unknowingly someone's feelings were hurt, then it was never my intention, nor has it been the conduct of my long political life," the Congress leader said.



Kharge also said that for five decades, he has always opposed the divisive ideology of BJP and RSS and their leaders.


"My political fight will always be against their politics," he wrote.



BJP slams Mallikarjun Kharge for likening PM Modi to 'poisonous' snake


Several BJP leaders attacked Mallikarjun Kharge and condemned his remarks. Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that 'hate is coming out' and sought the Congress president's apology.


She also dismissed Kharge's clarification that he was comparing the BJP's ideology not Modi, saying he is trying to 'wriggle out'.


Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Congress president used such words to 'appease his political masters' 



Reacting to Kharge's remarks, BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said that the Congress continues to 'plummet to new depths'. 


"Now Congress President Kharge calls Prime Minister Modi 'poisonous snake'? What started with Sonia Gandhi's 'maut ka saudagar', and we know how it ended, the Congress continues to plummet to new depths. The desperation shows Congress is losing ground in Karnataka and knows it," he said in a tweet.



Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of engaging in 'revdi culture' in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and said that their poll guarantees have still remained as guarantee.


"Congress means a guarantee of corruption, a guarantee of nepotism," he said while addressing tens of lakhs of BJP workers through virtual mode ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections.



He added that the grand old party has reached a stage where it cannot give true guarantees. 


Alleging that Congress did not show any interest in eliminating corruption as they were the 'biggest source of corruption', PM Modi said, after 2014 there has been a speed in the fight against corruption.