Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi today virtually came face-to-face in the poll campaign in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region where they clashed over the Maoists attacks that had wiped out the entire state Congress leadership and over governance.
In the first direct attack on Gandhi in recent times, Modi said she should speak up on coal and 2G spectrum scams and alleged that the Congress was "misleading" the country on issues like development, inflation and employment generation.
Addressing an election rally in Kanker soon after Gandhi's public meeting in Kondagaon, he took a dig at her for saying that Congress believes in "doing work silently rather than speaking" and said the scams in coal block allocation and 2G spectrum were examples in this regard.
In her speech, Gandhi alleged that poverty is on the rise in Chhattisgarh while Modi rebutted the charge saying by voting BJP, the people had prevented "looters" (Congress) from coming to power. "If Congress had come to power, one could imagine what would have happened," he said.
Both the leaders were on a whirlwind tour of the Maoist-dominated tribal areas of Bastar whose 18 seats go to polls on November 11. In the morning security forces defused two IEDs weighing 50 kg in Dantewada area in the district.
Gandhi picked on the Raman Singh government on the handling of the security situation.
"You all know the security situation in the state. I want to ask all of you here, what kind of government is this? Innocents are being killed in naxal violence.
"This year itself Congress leaders have sacrificed their lives in naxal attacks and we are all very sad about it. We are feeling their loss in a big way today. The Chief Minister was forced to admit to his government's failure. But, I want to ask you what is the use of shedding crocodile tears," she said.
