Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the people in general and his party cadres in particular when he said on Friday night that suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar tried to ‘eliminate’ him by hiring a mafia gang based in Pakistan.

Speaking at an election meeting ahead of the first-phase of polling which took place yesterday, the Prime Minister referred to Aiyar’s ‘neech aadmi’ remark about him and wondered whether Aiyar meant to degrade him or the entire people of Gujarat or their culture. “I won’t react to this remark for the time being,” he said and added that people would answer him in a befitting manner during the polls.

The Prime Minister also dropped a bomb when he accused Aiyar of having tried to ‘get him eliminated’ soon after he took over as Prime Minister in the aftermath of the May, 2014 Lok Sabha polls. “Aiyar went to Pakistan, met a few locals and told them that no progress in relations between India and Pakistan would b mad unless I was eliminated,” Modi said.

“He wanted to hire a mafia gang to get me eliminated,” Modi added and assured the people not to worry a lot about it as he was always protected by the Almighty.  “This took place more than three years back but Congress made its best efforts to hide this truth from the people. Moreover, it didn’t initiate any action against Aiyar for his visit to Pakistan and the effort he made,” the Prime Minister concluded.