New Delhi: Raising doubts over the Pune police's findings of an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a fashion similar to Rajiv Gandhi's killing, the Congress party on Friday said it is Modi's old tactics to plant stories like this.
"I am not saying this is completely untrue but it has been PM Modi's old tactic since he was chief minister. Whenever his popularity declines, news of an assassination plot is planted. So it should be probed how much truth is in it this time," said Sanjay Nirupam.
The Pune police, which on Wednesday arrested five persons, including a Dalit rights activist, a professor and a former Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellow, for alleged Maoist links, have seized an email that suggests plans to assassinate Modi in "another Rajiv Gandhi type incident" by "targeting his roadshows".
An excerpt of the internal communication of Maoists intercepted by the Pune Police reads, "Comrades
proposed concrete steps to end Modi-raj.
We are thinking of Rajiv Gandhi type incident. There is good chance we might fail but the party must deliberate on it. Targeting his roadshows can be effective."