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Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007
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No reference to Modi: Congress

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Faced with an Election Commission notice on Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s ‘merchants of death’ remark at a rally in Gujarat, the Congress on Monday took the position that there was no direct reference to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in that comment.

“The reference was to the establishment of Gujarat, the people who are running the government and, that, as the head of the government, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi cannot escape responsibility,” explained Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed here.

He said the Congress had not violated the model code of conduct. Ms. Gandhi did not name anybody and had only pointed to the “political failures of the government.”

He dismissed as “outrageous” the equating of Ms. Gandhi’s comments with those of Mr. Modi on “encounter deaths.” The party would explain its position to the Election Commission in its reply on Tuesday to the notice served on Ms. Gandhi, he added.

Facing a volley of questions on the stand taken by senior party leader Kapil Sibal and a contradictory stand by the Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi over the weekend, Mr. Ahmed asserted that both the leaders meant the same thing. “There is no question of backtracking. There was no difference in what either said. It was a question of interpretation. The Congress president did not name anybody. She only referred to the ugly things in the name of administration.”

PTI reports:

Mr. Singhvi told PTI on Monday, that “the text [of Ms. Gandhi’s speech] is for everybody to see. No names appear in the text.” On Saturday, Mr. Singhvi said: “We reiterate and stand by our statement made from the All-India Congress Committee in respect of the description of Mr. Modi. The description is not just apposite, it is mild.”

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