BJP slams Cong for fielding Sanjiv Bhatt's wife against Modi

"Congress is exposed thoroughly today. In the last 10 years, they carried out a hate campaign...They defamed Gujarat to the hilt. And Sanjiv Bhatt became a major pawn in the hands of Congress," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

By fielding Bhatt's wife Shweta in the Gujarat assembly polls, he said, "It is clear today which forces are working behind Sanjiv Bhatt, after his wife became a Congress candidate."

Javadekar said whatever Bhatt did in last 10 years, the "whole architect, script writers and directors were the Congress".

"It was Congress-sponsored hate campaign to defame Gujarat and Gujarati voters will definitely teach a bitter lesson to Congress," he said.

Shweta Bhatt today announced in Ahmedabad that she will contest the state Assembly elections on a Congress ticket against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from Maninagar constituency in the city.

"Yes, I will be fighting against Modi from Maninagar on a Congress ticket," she said, adding that she will be filing her nomination papers shortly.

Sanjiv Bhatt, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court last year, had alleged complicity on the part of Modi in the 2002 riots. He also deposed against Modi before the Nanavati Commission, probing the riots.

Bhatt, who was the Principal, SRP Training School, was later suspended by the state government.