Hate is coming out: BJP on Kharge's 'poisonous snake' barb at PM Modi

New Delhi: Senior BJP leaders on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Congress after its president Mallikarjun Kharge likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a poisonous snake, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said "hate is coming out" and sought his apology.

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

Another Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said as the Congress' desperation grows, its "lies and abuses" for Modi are increasing.

"Just recently some Congie leaders want to see our PM dead, some mock him and now @kharge abuses him. Mark my words, people of Karnataka will never forget, forgive or vote in this bunch of Cong hoodlums who have normalized this type of vicious abuse of our PM and result will only be even stronger PM because of respect and love of people who he serves steadfastly," he tweeted. 

Addressing a public meeting at Ron in Gadag district, as part of the party's campaign for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, Kharge said: "Don't make a mistake. Modi is like a poisonous snake. If you say, 'no, it's not venomous let's lick it and find out.' Don't go to lick it. If you lick, you die.” 

BJP IT department chief Amit Malviya, who also shared the video where Kharge made those comments, said on Twitter, "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."