Mumbai, June 8: Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam on Friday dismissed any possible threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life and said that it was a strategy used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as their popularity has dipped. Nirupam told ANI, “I am not saying this is completely untrue, but it has been Prime Minister Modi’s old tactic since he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. Whenever his popularity declines, news of an assassination plot is planted. So, it should be probed how much truth is in it this time."

The Congress party has distanced itself from Nirupam's comment. Congress Spokesperson Majeed Memon said that both Nirupam's remarks and the Pune Police claims are premature and that they would not like to admit or dismiss either statement until some documentary evidence is recovered. Memon said that the police also should have refrained from releasing such sensitive information without further investigation into the matter.

Earlier, too, Nirupam had been in the news for making similar remarks. He was embroiled in a controversy after he called Karnataka state governor Vajubhai Vala a "dog" for inviting the BJP to form their government despite no majority. The Congress party had condemned his comment then too.

According to news reports, a letter was recovered from the house of one of the five activists who were arrested on Wednesday for triggering violence in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad held on January 1 in Shaniwar Wada, Pune. The Dalit activist named Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai and others --- lawyer Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson were arrested from different cities of India. The Pune Police informed the court that the letter was found from one of the five arrested persons who have links with the banned organisation – Communist Party of India – Maoists (CPI-M).

The public prosecutor further informed the court that the letter speaks about the requirement of Rs 8 crores to procure an M-4 rifle and four lakh round. Besides it also informed the court that the letter also talked about Rajiv Gandhi style assassination incident and that the party (CPI-M) should consider the similar proposal of targeting him (PM Narendra Modi) during roadshows.

Reportedly, CM Devendra Fadnavis also received similar threats from Maoists. According to news reports, Fadnavis received two threat letters from Maoists a few days back.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 08, 2018 05:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).