SUNDERNAGAR/KANGRA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government is going to crack down on ‘benami’ properties and Congress is worried as such assets of its leaders will not be spared.

He said Congress’s campaign against demonetisation is driven by its attempts to mislead people and create an atmosphere against him before he can raise a ‘storm’ over benami assets.

“The time has come to return to the poor what had been robbed from them… I am going to create a situation that they (offenders) would not be able to reclaim their benami assets,” he said at an Election rally in Sundernagar on Saturday.

He also compared Congress with “termites” and said the party must be “thrown out” in the assembly elections. “You have to punish Congress, otherwise it wouldn’t learn a lesson. We have to sanitise just like we clean termites from every corner of the house, otherwise it comes out after some days,” said Modi.

At an election meeting in Chambi in Shahpur assembly segment in Kangra district, Modi lashed out at the Congress for the protests it has planned on the first anniversary of demonetisation. “They are going to observe November 8 as a black day and burn my effigies. They don’t know Modi is a disciple of Sardar Patel and won’t be cowed down,” he said.

“Do whatever you want Burn my effigies on all crossroads. But people of this country had given a mandate to this government at the Centre and it is our duty to fight against corruption,” the PM said.

He said the life of the common and honest man is back on track in India after demonetisation. “But those who had lost their hidden money are after me as I had forced them to deposit it through demonetisation.”

Asking people to give BJP a three-fourth majority in the polls, Modi said Congress was looking for dissidents within his party to manage the elections.

He said Congress has conceded defeat in Himachal and its senior leaders have “run away” from campaigning, leaving chief minister Virbhadra Singh to his fate. “I have seen many elections. But the way the Congress is fighting these elections, a time would come when you will not find a Congressman in the state even with a magnifying glass,” he said.

“Congress has left the ground, there is no opponent before us. BJP’s victory is clear, but it doesn’t mean that we need not to do anything. Our responsibility has increased,” he added.

Modi said Himachal had benefited the most when BJP ruled the Centre as well as the state under Atal Behari Vajpayee and Prem Kumar Dhumal, respectively. “There was maximum development in Himachal when Atalji was in Delhi and Dhumalji was here in Himachal. You have a chance again,” he said.