Vadodara: Senior Congress leader Sudhakar Reddy has demanded an apology from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for using Independence Day function to attack the Prime Minister and the Congress party.
Modi used an event like Independence Day for making a political speech and attack Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress party. He should apologise, he said here.
The BJP stalwart, in his speech, challenged Singh to a public debate on governance and slammed him for India’s “weak and feeble” response to provocations from Pakistan and China, and also on several other issues, including the food Bill.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday night, Reddy, however, welcomed BJP veteran L K Advani’s statement that on a day like Independence Day leaders should not be critical of others. The Congress leader described Modi as “a corporate Chief Minister”,and alleged that he protects the interests of industrialists and ignores the plights of the poor and farmers in Gujarat.
Latching on to L K Advani’s apparent disapproval of Narendra Modi’s no-holds-barred attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday took potshots at the Gujarat Chief Minister saying his “abrasive hunger for power has no limits”. “On Modi’s Independence (Day) Speech, I and Advani ji are on the same page. Modi’s abrasive hunger for power has no limits,” Singh wrote on microblogging site Twitter.
The Congress general secretary’s remarks come a day after Modi’s attack on the Prime Minister on Independence Day in Bhuj in Gujarat, which also drew an indirect rebuke from Advani. The senior BJP leader, who has voiced reservations about the elevation of Modi as BJP’s national election campaign chief, had said that on a day like Independence Day, leaders should not be critical of others.
“I heard the Prime Minister today…Today on Independence Day, without criticising anybody, we all should realise that India has unlimited potential for the future,” Advani had said, striking a completely different note from Modi.
Backing Advani, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said there are 364 other days in the year to comment on the Prime Minister and that leaders should try to avoid politics on the occasion of Independence Day.
In his Independence Day speech, Modi had blamed the Prime Minister for not taking a strong stand on Pakistan, failing to revive the economy and for massive corruption in the country. He had also challenged the Prime Minister to a public debate on governance, saying the nation is “restless for change”.
Congress had on Thursday slammed Modi for attacking the Prime Minister, saying he was “so restless to become something big in the country” that he forgets that this is a day when political differences are forgotten.
Meanwhile, the `Rajiv Jyoti Sadbhavna Yatra’ of the Congress arrived in the city Thursday night. Reddy is in-charge of the yatra, which began its journey from the former Prime Minister’s memorial at Sriperumbudur near Chennai on August 9.
Local Congress leaders and workers, led by Vinubhai Patel, chief of the party’s district unit, and Narendra Rawat, President of the city branch, welcomed the yatra. The yatra entered Bhilad in Gujarat from neighbouring Maharashtra on Thursday morning and made brief halts at Vapi Bulsar, Navsari, Surat, Ankleshwar and Bharuch before reaching Vadodara, Reddy said.
The country-wide yatra’s aim is to promote communal harmony and take forward the ideals of Rajiv Gandhi. About 300 people, including 100 women, are taking part in it, he added. It is scheduled to reach New Delhi on August 19, the eve of the birth anniversary of the former Premier. (PTI)