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Modi not innocent in Godhra riot case: Siddu

Last Updated 24 March 2014, 18:45 IST

‘He was the CM of Gujarat at the time of massacre’

Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s blue-eyed boy of the RSS, who is certain to implement the RSS ideology and also bear the poll expenditure, prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi may have been given a clean chit by the Supreme Court constituted special investigation team (SIT) in the Godhra riot case, but he cannot be construed as innocent, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Participating in an interaction programme, organised by the Mysore District Journalists’ Association (MDJA), in the city, on Monday, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April17 in the State, Siddaramaiah said, “Modi was a beneficiary of jurisprudence, where he walked out unscathed due to the benefit of doubt, in Godhra pogrom. Nobody can deny that he was the chief minister at that time and he was responsible for the massacre that claimed several lives”.

Ridiculing the Gujarat model of development being propagated by the BJP, Siddaramaiah drew an analogy between the national and State average of Gujarat. “Gujarat is ranked fourth in human development index, while the percentage of school dropouts is 60 per cent compared with the national average of 40 per cent. When compared to Karnataka’s five per cent spending on health, Gujarat spends only three per cent from its exchequer,” he said.

Still, Modi outdid several senior leaders like L K Advani, Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley respectively, and also Jaswant Singh, emerging as the prime ministerial nominee for the reasons that he is a blue-eyed boy of the RSS, thanks to corporate funding, Siddaramaiah said.

However, the Modi wave will have the least impact on the people here, who have already shown the second place to the BJP in the State, owing to rampant corruption by the previous government. Also, corrupt leaders like B S Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu are back in the party fold.

It was evident with the losses suffered by the combined forces of the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular), ably supported by the KJP, in the by-elections to the Lok Sabha from Mandya and Bangalore rural constituencies, where Congress regained the lost seats, he said.

The Congress will seek votes on the development plank of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and also the 10-month-old Congress-led government in Karnataka. However, the results of the elections, especially in the State, cannot be termed as a referendum to the State government, Siddaramaiah said.

Sounding confident, Siddaramaiah said, the Congress will win at least 18 seats, against the total 28 seats in the State.

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(Published 24 March 2014, 18:45 IST)

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