BJP's Prime
Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav sparred today, with both attacking each other over the conditions in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Yadav set the stage for the verbal duel when he attacked Modi while addressing a rally in Varanasi.
Referring to Modi's his oft-repeated remark that BJP will turn Uttar Pradesh into a Gujarat, the SP supremo said he has "blood of innocents" on his hands and would not be allowed to do so.
"A rally is on in Gorakhpur where the chief guest is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. They say, they'll create a Gujarat (here). But please think again, you will not be in a position to do a Gujarat. You'll do a Gujarat, commit atrocities and massacres. Because this is what you have done there," Yadav said.
Alleging that "Modi is responsible for the communal riots in Gujarat", he asked BJP how could it select Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate when "atrocities and massacres" were carried out in the state ruled by him, an apparent reference to the post-Godhra riots in 2002 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Soon after, Modi, while addressing a rally in Gorakhpur, hit back, saying Yadav and his Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav were chasing him.
"Netaji, do you know the meaning of coverting to Gujarat? It means 24-hour electricity in every village and street. You can't do it. It requires 56-inch chest," Modi said, apparently suggesting that it requires decisiveness.
Modi said Gujarat had been living a life of "peace and harmony" for the last 10 years which was beyond Mulayam, whom he referred as 'netaji' in his address.
