The Congress Wednesday said the BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi was a "demagogue trying to force a divisive agenda" and accused him of attempting to "hijack the UPA's development plank".
"Modi is being a demagogue trying to force a divisive agenda. He is trying to hijack UPA's development agenda," Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said during a media interaction here.
Chavan said Modi was a three-term chief minister and had won elections, but it was quite different to run a coalition government at the centre than running a single party regime in a state.
"Gujarat has progressed not because of Modi but because of the hard work done by the people of the state," he said.
Chavan asked Modi to spell out his ideas on core issues of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like the uniform civil code and removing Article 370 of the Constitution.
"They always bring up these issues during poll time but later forget them," he said.
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Modi should speak on his views on managing the economy and foreign policy, especially how to deal with Pakistan, Chavan said.
"Their idea of divisiveness was rejected in the very first general election," said Chavan.
He said Modi's agenda was that of abuse and the Congress had to respond to it.
Chavan refuted charges that the Congress was defensive and was merely responding to Modi's aggressive poll campaign.
He said the Congress campaign for the Lok Sabha polls would roll out from December after the assembly polls.
"Our vice president Rahul Gandhi has articulated that," he said.