Prime Minister Narendra Modi fired a fresh salvo at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleging that he had “insulted Lord Krishna” by mocking his underwater “pooja” near Dwarka. Addressing an election rally in Amroha, UP, Modi referring to Rahul as “Congress ke shahzada” (prince) said, “All of us revere Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, millions of Indians have faith in them, but Congress has always tried to negate the existence of these two gods. I went to Dwarka, and performed underwater pooja, the Congress prince made fun of it. I am now asking his Yaduvanshi (Yadav) friends, those who claim to be devotees of Krishna, how can they have an alliance with Congress which insults Lord Krishna?” When Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was asked to react, he heard the reporter’s question and said, “BJP is the biggest party of liars in this universe”, and walked away. Modi is clearly taking the current poll debate to the next level. Since most of the Yadav voters support Samajwadi party, an ally of Congress in Uttar Pradesh, he raised the issue of “insult of Lord Krishna” in Amroha. Rahul Gandhi had mocked Modi for performing underwater pooja in Dwarka “without the presence of a pandit”. It is now for both Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav to reply to Modi’s salvo. Both Rahul and Akhilesh are optimistic that their parties would get the support of Muslim voters, and also from backward castes, Dalits and other poorer sections by raising the caste census issue. Already rumours are being spread in western UP about the Thakur community members unhappy with BJP leaders.