Congress asks Modi to keep off from its affairs

AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik Tuesday asked the Gujarat CM to keep off from Congress affairs in context of his statement regarding Ahmed Patel.

Vadodara: Accusing BJP of projecting Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate with an intention to help him retain power, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik Tuesday asked the Gujarat chief minister to keep off from Congress affairs in context of his statement regarding Ahmed Patel. "Modi should bother about himself instead of asking the Congress party to name its chief ministerial candidate," Wasnik said referring to Modi`s comment that Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is party`s chief ministerial candidate in the state.

He was speaking to reporters here after Congress unveiled its manifesto for Assembly elections scheduled in two phases on December 13 and 17 in Ahmedabad today. When asked about senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Gopinath Munde among others endorsing Modi as prime ministerial candidate, Wasnik said, "the issue is being raked up so that Modi could continue as chief minister after the polls". "This is anyway not going to happen as Congress will win hands down and assume power in Gujarat," he added. Seeking to punch holes in Modi`s claims that Gujarat was discriminated by union government, the former Social Justice minister said "the Central allocation of funds to Gujarat was Rs 60,000 crore more than erstwhile NDA regime at the Centre giving a total grant of Rs 26,000 crore to Gujarat". He alleged that the Modi government was deliberately dithering in the implementation of Jawaharal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (NRUM) and MNREGA scheme for obvious political reasons. PTI