Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2018: Upping the ante against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Monday said that the opposition leader was afflicted with ‘Modiphobia’ and that is why he takes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name 44 times in his 22-minute election speech. “Rahul Gandhi nowadays is doing many election rallies but in these rallies, he takes the name of Narendra Modi 44 times in his 22-minute election speech. I am not able to understand whether he is campaigning for Narendra Modi and BJP or Congress. It seems he was afflicted with Modiphobia. Wherever he goes he keeps saying Modi-Modi,” Shah said while addressing an election rally in Narshinghpur in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP leader, who is campaigning ahead of the much crucial Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, asked the Congress party to give an account of what the four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family did when they ruled the country. “The Opposition is suffering from Narendra Modi-phobia. They just want to get rid of Modi from the prime minister's post, while we want to get rid of poverty, insecurity and air pollution among others,” Shah added.

Shah also slammed the Congress and claimed that it was Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP government that turned Madhya Pradesh into a developed state. He also questioned the Rahul Gandhi-led party for having no clarity over the chief ministerial candidate in the state yet. “We have Shivraj Singh Chouhan as our chief ministerial candidate. On the other hand, Congress has no leader. They don't have even policy. This makes BJP different from Congress,” the BJP stalwart said.

Shah also alleged that former PM Dr Manmohan Singh had left the Indian economy struggling at ninth position in the world in 2014, which, Shah said, his party raised to the sixth position. “By the time counting of these polls is done, India would have surpassed the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world,” he added.

Madhya Pradesh will go to polls on November 28 to elect 230 members of the legislative assembly. The results will be declared on December 11. The single-phase election in the state is touted to be a high decibel battle between the BJP and the Congress. While Shivraj Singh Chauhan is eyeing to secure his fourth consecutive term as chief minister, the Congress is looking to uproot BJP and regain power after 2003.