Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday asked Chief Election Commissioner James Michael Lyngdoh to exercise restraint while speaking about politicians.

"I have seen the interview of the chief election commissioner wherein he has described Indian politicians as cancer and cheats," he said in New Delhi. "I would ask him to exercise restraint and choose his words. As CEC his task is to conduct free and fair polls and leave for the people of India to decide the fate of the politicians. If he wants to fight cancer then he should do MBBS and get expertise in radiology or any other field and then do public service. We have nothing against him on this score."

He criticised the Congress for trying to project itself as a party that cared for the poor.

At a function at the BJP headquarters organised to induct Sukhdeo Paswan, Simanchal Vikas Party president, and his colleagues into the BJP, Naidu said his party and its allies would return to power after the Lok Sabha polls.

"Whenever there are elections the Congress party suddenly remembers the poor and downtrodden. Congress ka haath garib ke saath (The Congress is with the poor), they shout. Whereas after the elections the same Congress party works for the rich," he said.

He ridiculed the Congress for trying to forge an alliance.

"Will they tell us who would lead this front? We in the BJP have declared that [Prime Minister Atal Bihari] Vajpayeeji will be our leader and the BJP and its allies will contest the next Lok Sabha polls under him. You ask the Congress party and they will hesitate to tell who will lead the new front. Tried, tired and failed people are forming a front," he said.

He said the BJP would soon release a document giving details of the work done by the National Democratic Alliance government. "We have asked the office-bearers to give us two sets of plans: one that will have an action plan for 250 days if the elections are held in September and one 125-day action plan if the elections are held ahead of schedule."