On campaign trail in Chhattisgarh: Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi trade barbs

Bastar, where Left Wing extremists have a huge influence, goes to polls on Monday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a busy international itinerary next week, hit the campaign trail on Friday in poll-bound Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, as did Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing a public rally in Jagdalpur, the PM accused the Congress of supporting “urban Maoists” and spreading lies.

The Congress chief, at a rally in Kanker, said Modi has forgotten his commitments made to youths and farmers in 2014, and has now taken to talk about Maoism to hide his government’s failures to deliver on those promises.

The Chhattisgarh Assembly has 90 seats, and 18 seats in Bastar, where Left Wing