Modi denies all charges; seeks withdrawl of notice on Sohrabuddin

Ahmedabad, Dec 8 (UNI) Denying all charges levelled by the Election Commission (EC) in a notice on December 6, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today asked the poll panel to withdraw the notice issued to him for making references to the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in his election speeches.

He told the poll panel that he was quoted by media ''out of context'' and the state government's ''strong policy against terrorism'' has resulted in only one death in the past four years because of terror.

He accused the Congress party for adopting soft policy on terrorism and indulging in vote bank politics.

''One of the critical issues in our country is the problem of terrorism and India has lost the lives of almost 90,000 of innocent citizens and security personnel in the past 17 years in its fight against terrorism. In the past four years alone, 5,619 innocents people have been killed by terrorists. The Gujarat government has a strong policy against terrorism. I belive that UPA and Congress party are indulging in vote bank politics and have sent soft signals on terrorism,'' Mr Modi told the poll panel in a seven-page reply.

Maintaining that he was responding to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's remark, calling him 'Maut-ka-Saudagar' (Merchant of Death), the Chief Minister said, ''It cannot be the policy of the EC first to ignore the violation of the code of conduct in her (Sonia Gandhi's) statement and then censor my political response to that statement.'' ''I have gone through my speech on the CD supplied (by EC). It is merely a response to Ms Gandhi calling me 'Maut-ka-Saudagar','' Mr Modi asserted.

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