NEW DELHI The Congress leadership has decided to make the political persona of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi the central theme of its national election campaign, and Sonia and Rahul Gandhi will address 100 rallies between them to lead the attack on BJP’s campaign superstar. For long, the Congress seemed unsure whether to campaign hard on its decadal “achievements” or to defend its “shortcomings” or to frontally take on the Modi onslaught.But a recent review meeting of the party changed the strategy. Finally, the party has decided to strike at the very heart of the saffron campaign. The more BJP projects a single person, the easier it is for Congress to focus its attack. All India Congress Committee general secretary Shakeel Ahmed told ETthat Modi is the biggest point of political debate and divide.“Modi’s style and political persona have now come under national scrutiny. Congress and its allies will now increasingly bring to the attention of the people the dangers of having somebody like Modi as the prime minister. We will do it with a sense of duty and political conviction,” said Ahmed.The party leadership, despite some initial reluctance, revised its strategy after a recent review meeting concluded that “the largerthan-life image of Modi is becoming a clear political target for Congress, providing it with many tactical advantages during the campaign”, said another Congress leader, who did not wish to be quoted.Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi are expected to spearhead the campaign with about 100 rallies between them across the country. The entire brass of the party is being roped into the campaign that goes on till mid-May. The leadership buried what is referred to in party circles as the “Janardan Dwivedi line”, which argued that party leaders must avoid targeting Modi as that will give him an opportunity to polarise the elections on communal lines.The mid-campaign course correction in the political line has driven home a different message — that there is much political dividend to be gained in focusing the campaign in a big way on BJP’s PM candidate. This new line was in demonstration in the past few days as Sonia, Rahul, P Chidambaram and even junior party spokespersons began attacking Modi in a big way in their speeches and media interactions.Chidambaram had lashed out saying, “It is no more a BJP, or a Modi-led BJP. But a BJP supplanted by Modi. It is a very dangerous trend in democracy when a man becomes bigger than his own party... I hope all sections of people, especially the youth will take note of this dangerous trend.” “Can Modi, who divides his own party, unite India?” wondered Abhishek Singhvi Congress leaders conclude that the 24X7 showcasing of Modi’s “aggressive, noisy and determined bid for power is leading to a silent, but solid consolidation of many Modiwary social segments, including minorities, behind Congress, which is positioning itself as the only national force that can stop Modi’s bid for prime ministership”.Defence Minister AK Antony’s open call to all secular parties to support Congress at the national level, pre- and post-poll to stop Modi, party leaders say, is the clear tactical amplification of Congress’ new line “of waging the war by citing the danger of Modi”. They also feel that Modi at the centre stage of BJP campaign will give them a tactical cushion against the anti-incumbency burden of UPA.This, senior leaders say, is due to a shift in strategy concluding that Modi is “proving to be an asset” for Congress on many critical fronts. “The Modi overdrive has already created public rifts among top BJP leaders at a time their entire party should have been united against us.How senior BJP leaders such as Advani, MM Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and others are becoming increasingly uneasy with Modi’s style is on public display and we are determined to drive home the point that Modi can even divide his own party,” said a top AICC leader. During the past few days, leaders such as Digvijaya Singh and Chidambaram have pointed out how senior leaders of BJP are being pushed around by Modi. The contradiction between BJP and its allies over Modi is another issue that Congress will try to use to its advantage.For instance, Shiv Sena is supposedly upset with BJP’s move to accommodate Raj Thackeray . “For all his talks about winning over Vaiko and Vijayakanth, the fact is the Modi-led BJP has not won over a single leading political force in any state. In short, from an NDA comprising of over 20 major regional parties such as Trinamool Congress , BJD, DMK and JD(U), all that the Modi-led BJP has is a truncated Shiv Sena, a divided Akali Dal and smaller players such as Vaiko and Ramadoss, and BJP’s limited reach in many key states remains the same,” said a Congress union minister.