Cong dithers over taking Modi to EC for speeches

Congress spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy said Modi had been ‘‘caught red-handed with an audio tape which exposes the combustible communal intent of his speeches.’’ He even conceded that it was enough for Modi’s disqualification, the way it happened earlier with the Sena Chief Bal Thackeray. However, when quizzed over if his party, armed with the tapes, would approach the EC for a similar action against Modi, Reddy replied: ‘‘The party has not yet taken a view in the matter. We are looking at legal and political angles.’’

In private, senior Congress leaders point at a ‘‘technical’’ difficulty in approaching the EC. Since the elections have not yet been announced in Gujarat, Modi’s public gatherings cannot be legally termed as election rallies to warrant the EC’s intervention. As such, said one of them, ‘‘our hands are tied.’’ But there are indications that the party would be more than willing to let an NGO or someone else move an appropriate forum.

However, beside this professed technical hitch there exists somewhere an unstated fear of ‘Hindu backlash’ in case the Congress is seen to be moving too aggressively against Modi for his anti-minorities utterances.

Party leaders drawing strategies for Gujarat polls have often made clear their intention of killing two birds with one stone: To rope in the traumatised Muslims as well as a chunk of Hindu voters who might have veered away from Modi in the aftermath of prolonged riots.