New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi’s hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion had triggered off a huge political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress. Now, many in the saffron party have made it an issue of religion as well.

The poster carries the photo of the hug and the caption - Nafrat se nahi, pyar se jeetenge (we won't win with hatred, but by love), the words used by the Congress chief in Parliament.

What has irked the BJP, however, is that in the poster the word love was written in green and hate in saffron. This was enough to make some in the party accuse the Congress of being anti-Hindu.

It’s this which has forced Gandhi to give some tips to his party colleagues. The main aim is to avoid being dragged into this controversy and any controversy or debate over religion and polarisation, sources said.

The Congress chief called a meeting, a first in a series of meeting planned to prepare the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha. Attending the meeting were Randeep Surjewala, P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and a few other leaders.

Sources said that they were all told to not get swayed by BJP’s attempts to polarise the atmosphere. They said that Rahul disapproved of the poster in Mumbai and has asked the leaders to refrain from such actions as it can strengthen the BJP and put Congress at a disadvantage.

He told them to keep the focus on the failure of the government and talk about issues like the economy and social welfare. In fact, Rahul also made it clear to the likes of Chidambaram and Tharoor that if they write columns, they must not say anything or write anything which could help the BJP with its agenda.

Their writings should focus on the “misgovernance” of Modi government, sources said.

The source said that the Congress and Rahul are aware that the BJP may want to step up its campaign, so the best and safest bet was to target governance issues in the BJP.