Modi blames Congress for "baseless" propaganda

SURAT, February 15: The Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Narendra Modi on Sunday dubbed as ``baseless'' the campaign that t...

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SURAT, February 15: The Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Narendra Modi on Sunday dubbed as “baseless” the campaign that the country is heading for a hung Parliament. Modi, who is on a two-day tour of South Gujarat, blamed the Congress for the propaganda.

Congress was misleading the voters when it found that it was not in a winning position. Voters were in search of a party that can provide stable governance, and the BJP fits the bill, he claimed. Modi, who has been entrusted with the task of coordinating party’s campaign for both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, will leave for Bharuch today.

Though he did not directly run down election surveys forecasting hung Parliament, Modi said all opinion polls had proved one trend that committed workers were going away from the UF and the Congress.

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Even floating votes would come the BJP way. In natural course, the BJP would get more than 300 seats.

Modi claimed his first phase of campaigning would enable him to meet about 75,000 activists inperson and added that about 4.5 lakh workers were engaged in election work.

When asked how could the party play the stability card when it could not rule Gujarat despite getting two-third majority, Modi said that was the internal problem caused by some overambitious individuals.

He also blamed the then Central government for not allowing the BJP to rule even after proving a majority in the House. The BJP government will stop misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution.

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He accused Sonia Gandhi of using unparliamentary language while calling Atal Behari Vajpayee a liar. Instead of naming individuals who got kickbacks in the Bofors case, she was trying to escape by not answering questions. He dubbed as figment of imagination, the role played by the RSS and other members of Sangh Parivar in allocation of tickets.

The party candidates for Surat Lok Sabha constituency and all four Assembly seats were also present at the press conference along with all office-bearers of Surat unit.

Meanwhile, the Congressalso addressed a press conference in the evening claiming that its candidates would win from all seven Assembly constituencies and Surat Lok Sabha seat. Party’s Surat Lok Sabha contestant Thakorbhai Naik said various factions in the Congress had patched up their differences.

Naik claimed there was a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress as the RJP was not existent in the region. He claimed the rank and file was opposed to Congress-RJP alliance. His party would highlight the instability and factionalism dogging the BJP. Party’s Assembly candidates were also present at the press conference.