NEW DELHI: After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar discarded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance way before the electoral race had begun, the party’s prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi lost two more party allies on Monday.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was a cabinet minister in the Vajpayee government as well as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Farooq, who too was a member of the NDA government, frontally berated Mr Modi’s brand of politics in what was seen as a new low in their ties.

Part of the reason for the new-found voices in the opposition to Mr Modi is said to flow from recent informal feedbacks from the electoral battlefields suggesting that the BJP campaign was flagging after an initial burst, which was replete with communal appeal and religious polarisation.

The other reason being ascribed to a slew of caustic remarks flung at the BJP leader by Congress party’s Priyanaka Gandhi and others is poor ratings which a recent Time magazine survey gave Mr Modi. The survey showed Aaam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal edging past Mr Modi in the “most influential” peoples’ segment of the poll. Mr Modi had scored the highest number of negative votes in a global field of political personalities.

Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has been lashing out at Modi after he targeted Mamata over a chit fund scam. Party leader and former quiz master Derek O’Brien had on Sunday stirred a hornet’s nest by calling Mr. Modi the ‘butcher of Gujarat’.

Mamata Banerjee further said on Monday that India would plunge into darkness under Narendra Modi’s rule. She added that if Mr Modi came to power at the Centre, he will deport Bangladeshi immigrants to their country. Meanwhile, a day after his remark that those voting for Mr Modi should drown in the sea, Union Minister and Kashmir’s National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah said he had nothing against the Gujarat Chief Minister as a person but was apprehensive about his agenda with regard to Jammu and Kashmir and Muslims.

While Farooq Abdullah cornered Modi over his agenda regarding J&K, Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Gujarat CM by calling him a devil.

“What does Modi want? Why are we against him? We are not against him as a person but against his intentions. His first intention is to abrogate Article 370 which gives special status to us (Jammu and Kashmir),” the National Conference president told a poll rally at Kangan in Ganderbal district. Abdullah, the NC candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, said abrogation of Article 370 would never be acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“That (abrogation of the Artice) means our flag will be pulled down, our Constitution annulled and we be made their slaves. The people of Jammu and Kashmir will never accept this,” he said.

Mr Abdullah said the other issue on Modi’s agenda, a cause of concern for Muslims, was BJP’s wish to implement uniform civil code.

“On one side are communal forces and on the other, those opposing them. Now it is up to you whether you want to strengthen communal forces or secular forces,” he told a voters’ meeting.

Speaking to a regional channel, Mr. Modi slammed Mr Abdullah and his son, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, over the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.

“Irresponsible statements by the likes of Dr Abdullah cannot derail India’s mission. Due to communal politics of Abdullah family, Kashmiri Pandits were removed from their homes only due to their religion. Is this secularism?

Just for the sake of politics, Dr Abdullah’s family communalised J&K, which is a land of Sufism and harmony,” Mr Modi said.