Et tu, Modi? After development and growth pitch, Modi plays caste politics

Ahmedabad: BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's poll pitch on Tuesday slipped from its hallowed slogan of 'development and growth' to 'caste'.

In a series of tweets today, Modi said he was being targeted because he belonged to a lower caste.

In a sharp retort to Priyanka Gandhi's barb of indulging in "low-level" politics, Narendra Modi invoked his 'backward class' status to further mount attack on the Congress' star campaigner.

"As I belong to a socially backward caste, they consider my politics to be of a low level (neech rajneeti)," Modi said in a series of tweets.

"Some people (Gandhis) cannot see that it is due to renunciation, sacrifice and hard work of people of backward class that the country has reached to the present position," Modi further tweeted targeting Priyanka.

"This 'neech rajneeti' will wipe tears of thousands of people and free India of 60 years of mis-governance and vote bank politics," he said.

"The height of 'neech rajneeti' has power to make Mother India a prosperous and powerful nation," Modi said.

"Some people (Gandhis) cannot see that it is due to renunciation, sacrifice and hard work of people of backward class that the country has reached to the present position," Modi further tweeted targeting Priyanka.

"This 'neech rajneeti' will wipe tears of thousands of people and free India of 60 years of mis-governance and vote bank politics," he said.

"The height of 'neech rajneeti' has power to make Mother India a prosperous and powerful nation," Modi said.

The BJP strongman had on Monday taken on the Gandhis at their home turf Amethi, the constituency of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, in the last lap of electioneering.

He had termed Priyanka Gandhi as "arrogant" for asking who Smriti Irani (actress-turned politician and BJP candidate from Amethi) was.

In a counter to the barbs that he practices 'politics of anger', Modi had accused her father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, her mother Sonia and brother Rahul for practicing the same.

Within hours, Priyanka hit out at Modi saying he had insulted his martyred father on Amethi's soil and accused the Gujarat chief minister of practicing 'neech rajneeti'.

"He has insulted my martyred father on Amethi's soil. The people of Amethi will never forgive him for this. My booth level workers will give reply to this low level politics. There will be a reply from each and every booth of Amethi," Priyanka had said.

In an election rally in support of Smriti Irani on Monday, Modi accused Congress of practicing politics of "arrogance" and said Rajiv Gandhi, when he was Congress General Secretary, had once publicly "abused" and "humiliated" the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister T Anjaiah at airport. Anjaiah was the chief minister between 1980 and 1982.