Modi is not a communal leader: Sukhbir

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal today rubbished allegations holding Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the 2002 Godhra-riots and described Congress as a communal party.
"Narendra Modi is not at all a communal leader," the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister said here.
Citing the Supreme Court-appointed SIT report giving a clean chit to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Badal alleged, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were engineered by Congress and some its leaders were directly involved in it.
"Congress is a communal party...It had sponsored the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 because most of its leaders were involved in it," he said.
He, however, ruled out any comparison between the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with what happened in Gujarat in 2002.

"You cannot compare the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with the 2002 Gujarat clashes," he said.
Talking about selection of SAD-BJP's candidate from Patiala against three time Congress MP and Union Minister Preneet Kaur, he said, "SAD is not facing any difficulty in finalising a candidate against her as we have too many aspirants to contest and will announce a name at the right time."
Asked about Amritsar's BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu's allegations that funds meant for Amritsar were diverted to rural areas, he said, "Funds for urban areas cannot not be transferred to rural areas...I can assure that projects started there would be completed.