Under fire over the Gujarat fake encounter case, the Bharatiya Janata Party has gone on the offensive and questioned the credentials of the Congress and the Communist parties, particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist, on the issue.
The party fielded senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu to handle the controversy.
"Lalu (Prasad Yadav), the railway minister who is on bail in the fodder scam, says that he would send (Gujarat Chief Minister) Narendra Modi to jail for the fake encounter. Did Modi do the encounter?" Naidu thundered on Wednesday.
"The Congress party has asked for his (Modi's) resignation. Did Home Minister Shivraj Patil resign when there was a fake encounter in Jammu and Kashmir? Did (former chief minister) Dharam Singh resign when there was a fake encounter in Karnataka? Did (Maharashtra Chief Minister) Vilasrao (Deshmukh) resign when there were fake encounters in Mumbai," Naidu asked.
He challenged the Congress leadership to prove their allegations against Modi in the forthcoming state assembly elections.
"The more they attack him the more he will consolidate his votes and return to power," he warned.
Those demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident should first order a CBI inquiry into the Nandigram killings and rapes, and the Congress should also hand over the fake encounter killing matters to CBI in the states ruled by it, Naidu continued.
"Let the court take a decision (on the Gujarat fake encounter) and we shall abide by it," he said.
Naidu also appealed to the Election Commission to ease identity proof restrictions in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections. He claimed the restrictions were preventing the poor from casting their votes.
"(Samajwadi Party General Secretary) Amar Singh may have a Visa card but those who live in slums don't have one," Naidu quipped. "The poor man who is not employed has nothing to prove his identity as the cards issued by the commission have not reached them.
"I therefore, appeal to the commission to remove certain restrictions and allow all those who can be identified by the election agents to caste their votes in the sixth phase on May 3 and the last phase on May 8," he said.
