As the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina nears, progressive candidate Bernie Sanders boasted of previous victories in the intra-party races in New Hampshire and Nevada, while taking aim at centrist rival Joe Biden.

Addressing to the supporters Wofford College, a liberal arts school in South Carolina’s Upcountry, Vermont Senator said, The back-to-back wins in the two states and what he claimed was a “popular vote” victory in the Iowa caucuses made the Democratic establishment “nervous”.

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“The establishment sees turnouts like this… You’re making them very nervous,” he added.

The 78-year-old in his speech also took a direct aim at Biden, saying that the former Vice President could not beat incumbent President Donald Trump because “he voted for the Iraq war” and “supported terrible trade agreements that cost us millions of jobs”.

The South Carolina primary is scheduled for Saturday.

Bernie Sanders is the second Democratic presidential nominee after Senator Elizabeth Warren to speak against the violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi. Apart from the Democratic presidential candidate, US House Foreign Affairs Committee too expressed concern over the developments.

Earlier in the month, Sanders held a narrow lead among the Democratic contenders. “I think he’s a communist,” said Trump, for whom name-calling and character smearing are an integral part of his campaign for re-election in November this year.

Earlier, voters in the midwestern state of Iowa participate in the long process that will eventually choose the Democratic party’s presidential nominee, who will take on Donald Trump in November’s US Presidential election.

The primaries and caucuses are a series of contests, in all 50 US states plus Washington DC and outlying territories, by which each party selects its presidential nominee.

On January 22, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had launched a scathing attack on a presidential hopeful and 2016 Democratic rival Sanders, telling a documentary that “nobody likes him.”

Sanders, 78, pushed Clinton to the wire four years ago in an acrimonious, months-long battle for the party’s nomination. Clinton won that race but lost to Trump in November.

Sanders was treated for a blocked artery after experiencing chest discomfort and has cancelled campaign events until further notice.

Sanders is the oldest candidate vying to take on President Donald Trump, 73, and is third in the Democratic nominee polls behind Joe Biden, 76, and Elizabeth Warren, 70.