M A I N   N E W S

Fight Modi in Vadodra, Gujarat BJP dares Kejri
Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, March 21
The Gujarat BJP has challenged Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to contest the Lok Sabha elections against Narendra Modi from the Vadodara constituency.

Party spokesman Bharat Pandya said the BJP was not concerned about who was contesting against Modi. “It does not matter if Kejriwal contests against Modi in Vadodara. Modi will win the seat with the biggest margin,” he said.

In Surat, sudden appearance of posters showing Modi with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray left BJP leaders fuming. The posters quoted Thackeray threatening migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Mumbai and asked voters to “think twice” before voting for Modi in Varanasi.

The poster claimed that Modi was siding with a party which was campaigning for throwing out North Indian migrants from Mumbai.

After the BJP lodged a strong protest, authorities later ordered removing of the posters from the walls on the ground that it could create bad blood among various sections of the people. Surat has a very large concentration of migrant labourers from UP, Bihar, Odisha and some other states working in the diamond-cutting and polishing industry.

The BJP has also taken strong exception to former Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Shkatisinh Gohil again calling Modi as “Mout ka Saudagar,” the term used by the party president Sonia Gandhi against him during the 2007 Assembly elections.