Undeterred by the Election Commission notice to party president Sonia Gandhi’s for using the term ‘maut ka saudagar’ (merchant of death) to describe political opponents in Gujarat, Congress on Friday called state Chief Minister Narendra Modi Raktabijasura. And this “demon”, according to Congress, can be destroyed only by Sonia Gandhi, who was like Goddess Durga to Mr Modi’s Raktabijasura.
Addressing the media, minutes before the campaigning for the final phase of elections in Gujarat was to come to an end, AICC media committee chairman Veerappa Moily used the reference to the mythical demon, whose every drop of blood is said to have spouted more versions of him, to describe the BJP Chief Minister. “Raktabijasura – that kind of person Mr Modi is. That kind of person is not fit to be in a democratic set up,” Mr Moily said launching a virulent attack on the Gujarat Chief Minister.
“Like Goddess Durga destroyed that demon, Modi will meet his nemesis in Sonia Gandhi.”
Comparing the reported crowd-pulling capacity of Mr Modi to that of Hitler, the Congress leader said, in an indirect reference to the post-Godhra riots, “He is the only CM in independent India to have been refused a visa to the United States.” Describing Gujarat as the “most-feared” state in India because of Mr Modi, he said, “FDI is at its lowest in Gujarat now. Investment is an act of faith, and this reflects the situation of fear.”
Responding to Mr Modi’s charge that the Government was not hanging Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru, Mr Moily said that his mercy petition would have to go through the legal process. “The average time taken for a decision on any mercy petition has been seven years, while Guru’s petition is just one-year old,” he said
 Accusing BJP and Mr Modi of politicising the issue, he said, “One cannot jump the procedures in a democracy. That can be done only by General Pervez Musharraf, Mr L K Advani or Mr Modi.”
Meanwhile, Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission against BJP and Mr Modi, accusing them of violating the model code of conduct by allegedly seeking to create communal disharmony. Referring to an advertisement in Gujarat dailies that referred to the Parliament attack incident and indirectly accused Congress of compromising with terror for the sake of votes, the complaint said BJP violated the clause 1.1 of the code that prohibits election candidates from aggravating existing differences or creating mutual hatred or causing tension among communities.


CHIDAMBARAM SAYS

Gujarat is debt stressed
Ahmedabad, DHNS: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday claimed that Gujarat has been classified as one of the six most “debt stressed” states in the country, while he was in Ahmedabad as part of Congress campaign. 
Sharply criticising the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat for the high burden of debt, he said that the government was financing its expenditure through heavy borrowing far beyond it's capacity to repay.
He further claimed that Gujarat received maximum allocation from the Centre besides the mutli-lateral and bi-lateral funding it receives for various development projects. Despite this, the debt burden of state had only increased from Rs 45.301 crores in 2001-02 to Rs 94,009 crores in 2007-08.