BJP slams U-turn by Sharad Pawar on Narendra Modi

Pune: A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar targeted Narendra Modi on the 2002 Gujarat riots issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Javadekar on Sunday said the former has habit of making "communal" statements ahead of elections.

"For four years and nine months Pawar talks like a secularist. However, when elections draw closer he turns communal," Javadekar said. "We have seen Sharad Pawar oscillate between secularism and communalism before, just because he wants Muslim votebank," he added. Pawar on Saturday attacked the BJP prime ministerial candidate on the 2002 riots issue, saying the entire country has seen the "mass murders" that took place in Gujarat. "They speak of changing the face of the country but the entire country has seen how mass murders took place," Pawar said addressing a meeting to discuss the status of minorities, without naming Modi.