'Scared' Prime Minister Modi deputed central ministers in Varanasi: Salman Khurshid

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has deployed several Union ministers for campaigning in Varanasi as he fears his party may lose in the Assembly election, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid alleged on Sunday.

The temple town in Uttar Pradesh is the Lok Sabha constituency of the Prime Minister, who has been camping there for the last couple of days, along with several central ministers."The PM is so scared that he has deputed 15-20 central ministers in Varanasi ('Pradhan Mantri bahut dare hue hai islie unhone apne mantri mandal ke 15-20 mantri wahan baitha rakhe hai)," Khurshid told reporters.

The senior Congress leader made the allegation during a press conference here, on a day Modi held a roadshow in Varanasi in support of local BJP candidates.On Saturday, Modi had made an impromptu tour through the winding streets of the city.

"Although, leaders of all others parties are also going there, but their visit is just normal, as they did in all other phases," the Congress leader said.

"If he (Modi) was confident enough that he would win and that if he has worked for his people and the place, then he didn't need to go there. "Especially, people of big stature, go and campaign at different places. They don't stagnate at one place. But if the PM is doing so, then you can yourself guess, why he is doing it," he said.

Khurshid also alleged that the Prime Minister was not allowed to take part in the roadshow in the city yesterday.

"But he looked out through the sunroof of his vehicle and acknowledged the crowd," he said.

The Congress leader claimed that "during his (Modi's) speech Modi had said that he was not allowed to meet his people and have a rally in the city in 2014."

"But I want to ask him, now it is 2017, and how many times has he visited and contacted people in the past three years?" Khurshid asked. He also accused the NDA government of "stealing their (UPA's) scheme and portraying it as its own".

"He (Modi) takes credit for everything good and puts blame on others for everything bad that happens," Khurshid alleged.

When asked to respond on the case of tainted UP cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati, Khurshid said, "Those who have allowed others to escape are talking about Prajapati's escape."

"I was amused to find Amit Shah talking about criminality," he said.

Ruing the UP government's failure to arrest the rape-accused minister, Shah on Sunday listed sending the minister "behind bars" as one of the first tasks in the event of his party forming government in the state.