Chennai, Jul 8 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri said that the BJP is afraid to face the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and is trying to capture power through the backdoor. He said that the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to send Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to prison to prevent a formidable opposition.

Alagiri was speaking to media persons at Arkonam in Tamil Nadu on Saturday. He was responding to a question about Rahul Gandhi’s unsuccessful attempt to stay his conviction and two year sentence in a defamation case.

He said, “ Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scared to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections against Rahul Gandhi. Using the defamation case, the BJP wants to send Rahul Gandhi to prison to avoid a formidable opposition during elections”.

However Alagiri said that Rahul Gandhi would be cleared soon in the defamation case and would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and become the Prime Minister of the country.

The Congress leader said that the nine years of the BJP government at the Centre were miserable for the people of the country as prices of essential commodities had risen tremendously.

Alagiri added that Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi was losing respect among the people due to his actions -- Ordering the dismissal of arrested Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers and later retracting the order. He said that this made people think that the Governor’s actions were politically motivated.