BJP welcomes EC notice to Sonia, Digvijay, hopes action taken soon

New Delhi, Dec 9 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party today welcomed the Election Commission (EC) issuing notices to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party leader Digvijay Singh.

The party hoped that the Commission would take an ''objective'' decision as Ms Gandhi had allegedly violated the Model Code of Conduct by her 'Maut Ka Saudagar' (merchant of death) remark during an election campaign in Gujarat.

Terming ''sheer arrogance of the Congress Party'' being evident from Ms Gandhi's comment on December 1 in Navasari describing those who run the government in Gujarat as 'Maut Ke Saudagar,' BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was a patent violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Though Congress leader Kapil Sibal tried to deflect Ms Gandhi's statement by saying that it was meant against the Gujarat administration, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi later said that it was against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

This was the public owning of the statement by the Congress, Mr Prasad said and added that the BJP expected the Election Commission to take appropriate decision.

He also criticised Congress leader Digvijay Singh for describing the Gujarat government as being run by terrorists.

The comments like these show the sheer arrogance of the Congress against the democratically elected government, he pointed out and said the BJP condemned them and hoped that the people of India and Gujarat would give a befitting reply to it.

About Mr Modi's reply to the EC, he said the tapes submitted showed that Mr Modi had not made offensive statements.

Moreover, the BJP clarified that it did not support fake encounters.

Asked whether the BJP claimed that it had pressurised the Commission to issue notice to Ms Gandhi and Mr Singh, he said, ''We are not in the habit of taking credit for anything as that remains for the Congress. We are just happy that the Election Commssion took cognisance of it.'' Regarding reports of the Commission issuing any notice to BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra, he said the party was not aware of any such notice till now. However, if any notice was issued, the BJP would reply to it, he added.

UNI