'Cong 'Modi Hatao' campaign to benefit BJP'

Ahmedabad, Dec 14: Leader of Opposition L K Advani today claimed that the Congress Party's ''Modi Hatao'' campaign will benefit the BJP since in India, people have always shown an aversion to ''person-centric'' campaigning. Talking to mediapersons at the party headquarters here today Mr Advani said, ''The present Congress campaign in Gujarat reminds me of the Opposition's 'Indira Hatao' call in 1967 which Mrs Gandhi effectively countered with her 'Garibi Hatao'.

Similarly, the present 'Modi Hatao' campaign has been effectively responded with 'Gujarat Jitao' by the BJP.'' Criticising the Congress campaign, particularly its President Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Advani said, ''The Congress leader's speeches are extremely personalised and vicious, lack balance and have lowered the standard of electioneering. I am confident that the low level of the Congress Party's poll campaign will be one of the many factors contributing to the BJP's victory in Gujarat.''

He said, ''I have observed the Congress and its leaders closely for many years. Never have I heard the kind of election speeches that the people of Gujarat have been hearing during this Assembly polls.'' Describing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a ''person who does not know the ABC of politics'', Mr Advani said, ''In the context of the Gujarat elections, Mr Singh has already conceded the defeat of his party by his extraordinarily inept and unbecoming comment over BJP's decision regarding me (projecting him as next prime minister) on December 10. The most charitable way of responding to it is to say that Mr Singh is apolitical.''

Mr Advani said, ''People are amused by the Congress Party's flip-flop over Ms Gandhi's equally unbecoming statement during her election campaign in Gujarat, for which she was served a notice by the Election Commission. This reminds me of a similar flip-flop by the Congress after her shocking speech in Haryana in October this year in which she branded all those parties opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal as enemies of India's development.''

UNI