Modi dares Sonia to debate, in Italian

After attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi all along his Gaurav Yatra, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today dared her to a face to fa...

After attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi all along his Gaurav Yatra, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today dared her to a face to face debate.

Speaking at the BJP office in Vadodara, Modi challenged Sonia to a public debate to ascertain whether any of his speeches had communal overtones. He even gave her options: ‘‘any forum, any place and any language, including Italian.’’

SONIA BEGINS TO
PICK CANDIDATES

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today kick-started the task of shortlisting candidates for the Gujarat polls. While most of the 54 sitting MLAs are likely to be retained, the party will decide on over 80 new names (out of a total of 182 seats) in the first round of the meeting that concludes tomorrow. Kamal Nath, however, told a TV channel late tonight that the party would consider the winnability factor before issuing tickets to all sitting MLAs.
Besides Kamal Nath, the AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat, the entire Central Election Committee assembled at Sonia’s residence today evening to begin the exercise. Sonia is learnt to have held a special meeting on Gujarat even while in Mount Abu last week. Many party leaders from Gujarat also held closed-door meetings with Kamal Nath.

‘‘I have been accused of making speeches which fan communal hatred. I challenge her to a public debate. Let it cover any of my speeches in the last year, including the Gaurav Yatra,” he said.

Asked why former chief minister Keshubhai Patel was keeping away from the Yatra, Modi said: ‘‘At the flag-off, he stated that he was sending two of his young horses (Modi and state BJP chief Rana) on a mission. He’s our inspiration and continues to guide us.’’

Wrapping up the ninth leg of his Gaurav Yatra later in Vagra, Modi toned town his rhetoric and asked all communities to share their pain and grief.

Addressing a gathering in the Congress bastion of Vagra, which has a sizeable minority community population, Modi called upon Muslims not to be ‘‘mislead by the vote politics of the Congress’’. ‘‘Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, called for help from all his party colleagues when he was trapped inside his house surrounded by a mob in Ahmedabad. Nobody came to help. Will this party (Congress) think of the welfare of Muslims,’’ he asked.

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Calling for communal amity and brotherhood, Modi said that the five crore Gujaratis in the country included all religions and castes. ‘‘It is the Congress which has been playing the politics of caste and religion.’’ The Muslims are safe under the BJP’s rule, he said. ‘‘Our priority is to have a safe Gujarat for all communities,’’ Modi said.

Calling the December 12 elections ‘‘the most critical the state will ever witness’’, Modi said it will destroy the forces working against the interests of the state.