Narmada:
As voting day draws closer in Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has raised the pitch against the Congress. Mr Modi today dared the Congress to declare its chief ministerial candidate while campaigning in Rajpipla in central Gujarat.
Targeting the Congress' high-profile general secretary Ahmed Patel, who is also the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, Mr Modi said that the Congress should come out in the open on whether they want to prop Mr Patel as the party's chief ministerial candidate. Mr Modi had raised the same question yesterday too while campaigning in his own constituency Maninagar.
"The Congress and its allies have already decided to make Ahmed Patel their chief ministerial candidate. In all likelihood a big deal has also been struck in order to do so. Plans are in place to field Ahmed Patel but the Congress does not have the courage to declare this in public," Mr Modi said today.
Mr Patel had yesterday said that the chief minister was talking like a "dejected and frustrated" person. "I was never a contender for the post of CM, and will never be. I have always remained away from power politics," a statement released by the Congress in Ahmedabad quoted him as saying.
"Ahmed Patel dubbed the comment of the Chief Minister as one made by a dejected and a frustrated person... Instead of meddling in the internal affairs of Congress, Gujarat CM should concentrate on the squabbles within his own party," the statement said.
"As the Assembly elections were drawing near, those who had cheated and misguided people of the state were now feeling that sand was fast slipping from beneath their feet and that's why they were making such baseless comments," the statement added.
Gujarat goes to polls later this month. Voting will be held in two phases on December 13 and 17 and results will be declared on December 20. Mr Modi is contesting from the Maninagar seat in Ahmedabad and faces suspended top police officer Sanjiv Bhatt's wife Shweta Bhatt of the Congress. Mr Modi has been winning from the seat since 2002.
(
With PTI inputs)