Pune, Mar 16: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi derided each other during campaigning in Maharashtra on Monday.

While Pawar condemned Modi by calling him a "frontline leader" of the communal forces in the country, Modi mocked Pawar by saying that the Congress has cheated him on the prime ministership issue.

Modi, who has launched the BJP-Shiv Sema poll drive here on Sunday night, said, ""if Pawar had any substance, he should at least see to it that a Maharashtrian becomes captain of the Indian cricket team."

Pawar had recently stated that a Maharashtrian should get an opportunity to become Prime Minister. Referring to his statement, Modi said that the Congress played a tricky game by making Pratibha Patil the president, sidelining Pawar''s prime ministerial ambitions.

On the other hand, Pawar, who is convening election meetings in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district, accused Modi of destroying lives of hundreds of people in Gujarat, maligning the image of that state.

"This communal leader has come to Maharashtra (for campaigning) but people of this state would never accept his ideology that divided the society, Pawar said.

"We love the Gujarat of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel", he said, appealing to voters to remove the poisonous "weed" of communal thoughts from the state. (ANI)