CPI wants Modi disqualified

The CPI on Thursday sought disqualification of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from contesting elections and filing of a criminal case against him for his controversial remarks justifying Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s fake encounter. “The EC should take suo motu note of his unpardonable remarks to defend a murder as well as his role in engineering riots to win elections and bar him from contesting,” CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, adding the Chief Minister was “deliberately pandering to Hindu communalism to win elections”. “We will seek his disqualification from contesting polls when we meet the EC. We also demand that a criminal case be filed against Modi,” Dasgupta said. He also announced that a party delegation would meet the Election Commission on Friday to put forth the demand.

Remarks a political response: Jaitley

“Whatever the Chief Minister said was just a political response to the remarks of Sonia Gandhi and Digvijay Singh,” BJP leader Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. Jaitley said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had referred to Modi as ‘merchant of death’, while former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh had talked about “Hindu terrorism” in Gujarat. “The Chief Minister’s remarks were made at a political rally and were made in reaction to the remarks made against him,” he added.