Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said he recently spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the BJP was poaching leaders from the opposition parties by scaring them. PM Modi told Kharge that people want to join the BJP because of the government’s work, Kharge told party workers in Pune after inaugurating a two-day state-level training camp. Kharge said his exchange with PM Modi took place during a tea meeting in Parliament. Congress has seen big-ticket exits in Maharashtra as former chief minister Ashok Chavan left the party and joined the BJP — with the party nominating him to the Rajya Sabha.

Before Ashok Chavan, Baba Siddique and Milind Deora left the Congress. They joined BJP’s allies in Maharashtra — Baba Siddique Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Milind Deora Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.

“During a tea meeting in Parliament where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present, I asked him how many people are you (BJP) going to poach as ministers and ex-chief ministers are joining your fold. I asked him about the appetite (to take leaders from opposition ranks into the ruling party),” Kharge told the gathering, as reported by PTI.

“He (PM) said what could he do if people want to join the BJP. I told him they (BJP) are carrying out this work (poaching) by scaring people. He said these people want to join because of their (government’s) work,” Kharge said.

As Kharge addressed the training camp, he said it was an act of cowardice on their part who left the Congress coming under some pressure.

Calling Modi ‘jhuton ka sardar’, Kharge said PM Modi always talks about ‘Modi ki guarantee’ and never uses the name of the party because “he is full of himself”. “PM Modi keeps lying…you all know what he did in the last ten years. Still, people praise him…if this continues, then there will soon come a day when the Constitution will vanish. We are waging a fight to protect the Constitution and have to keep fighting,” Kharge said.

Narendra Modi referred to the exodus of Congress leaders and said everyone is leaving the Congress because the party revolves around only one family.

(With PTI inputs)