Telugu Desam Party supremo and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has courted controversy again with his latest statement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he called him a ‘hardcore extremist’ and his appeal to minority communities to not vote for Modi.

In his speech on Monday, Chandrababu Naidu said that Prime Minister Modi is a hardcore extremist. He then went on to appeal to “minority brothers” who were present at the rally to not vote for the PM because if they do, “more problems would arise”.

Chandrababu Naidu also invoked the Godhra riots in which the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi had got a clean chit from the Supreme Court, no less.

Naidu said, “What happened during that time in Godhra? 2,000 people were massacred. That day I had said that Narendra Modi is not fit to live in this country. I am letting you all know that I was the first person to demand his resignation. After that, every country said no to his entry.”

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Naidu also said that the BJP was trying to gain control over Lord Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in Tirupati through the Archeological Survey of India. He said, “Lord Venkateswara will not leave you if you try to play with him. Tirumala temple is ours.”

Interestingly, the former head priest of the Temple had alleged in 2018 that Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had the kitchen of the Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala excavated last December as part of his search for ancient treasure. He had also demanded a CBI inquiry into the same.

The shameful comments against the elected Prime Minister of the country is not new. Only recently, Congress had insulted the PM yet again by saying that he attacks Dynasty politics because he has no “vansh”. Another Congress leader had said that nobody knows the name of the Prime Minister’s father. Senior Congress leader CP Joshi had made a cheap casteist slur against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar yesterday had dragged PM Modi’s ageing mother after he compared the devaluing rate of the Indian rupee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aged mother.

Congress leaders have often targetted the humble origins of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has time and again refers PM Modi as a ‘Chaiwala’ and had once called him as ‘neech insaan’. Shashi Tharoor had recently called him a ‘Scorpion sitting on a Shivling’ and that’s why they cannot hit him with a ‘Chappal’.