Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who recently shared a stage with underworld don Chhota Rajan's brother Deepak Nikhalje during an election rally in Mumbai has triggered an outrage on Twitter.

A short amateur video of the event was uploaded on the internet. The video shows Rajan's brother welcoming Modi on the stage and shaking hands with him along with other guests. It also shows Modi garlanding a Shivaji's bust during the event.

The Prime Minister responded by taking Nikhalje's name and greeting him.

Deepak Nikhalje is the Republican Party of India (Athavale) candidate from the Chembur assembly constituency. RPI (Athavale) is one of the smaller parties that have entered into an alliance with the BJP.

Ironically, Modi spoke about "bahubalis" in his speech.

"I have a complaint against the people of Maharashtra. There wasn't half the crowd in my Lok Sabha rallies in Maharashtra when I was candidate for the prime ministership. But now winds of change are sweeping the state. Whether it's a political goon as a candidate or the uncle-nephew duo (a reference to NCP leader Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar), no one will survive before the BJP in these elections," said Modi.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, a party would need about 145 seats to form the government. While BJP may fall short of the clear majority by a whisker, it will have the backing of its allies like the Republican Party of India (RPI) for staking claim to form the government. A pre-poll survey by the India Today Group and Cicero projects that other parties that includes BJP's pre-poll allies like Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Shiv Sangram and RPI, might secure between 20 and 30 seats.



The following are a few twitter reactions:

Considerate of moti-ji to get Chota Rajan in party so that work-load on Amit Sah can be shared #KumbhkaranSarkar pic.twitter.com/udUBR2Mi6G &; Sir Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhaqat) October 10, 2014

... @htTweets Gossh! You report Modi's sore throat but you never reported that he shared stage with Chota Rajan's brother! #KumbhkaranSarkar &; Uma Singhal (@UmaSinghal1) October 10, 2014

#AAPTards are making a BIG DEAL of MODI meeting CHOTA RAJAN's Brother? Isnt that natural? Amit shah and Chota Rajan? &; N B (@nishantberia) October 10, 2014

@chetan_bhagat @Dev_Fadnavis Yesterday PM campaigned for murder accused and shared stage with chota Rajan's bro. Will you dare 2 ask this? &; Hitendra Gupta (@hitugupta_27) October 10, 2014

@aapkipreeti So what is wrong if Bada Rajan shared stage with chota rajan. Lol. I don't think Arnab knows this. @timesnow &; Shuja Kamili (@shujakamili) October 10, 2014