Modi lampoons media for dubbing him 'polariser'

Bhimavaram (AP), May 1:

's Prime Ministerial nominee

today sought to lampoon sections of

which projected him as "polariser" of the electorate.

Pointing to some people sitting on poles erected for the huge "pandal", where seating arrangements were made for the crowd who came to attend his election rally here, he tossed a poser to senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu translating his speech into Telugu, "Those who climbed the poles... will they not fall? Then, the Gujarat Chief Minister, who has been accused of communal polarisation by his rival political parties, quipped, "Aap pole par chadthe ho...aap pole par rise kiye ho...aur akhbaarwale likhte hain Modi polariser hain (You climb the poles and you have risen on the poles and newspapers write Modi is a polariser!" Naidu, who initially did not seem to catch Modi's jibe and thought that he wanted those people on the poles to get down fearing that they may fall, went closer to Modi to understand what he intended to convey.

Once Modi let Naidu know what he meant, the latter quickly made the amends and put things in Modi's perspective. Modi also said that when the BJP-led NDA government comes to power, it would request the Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on criminal cases pending against sitting Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members within a year.

"Those who are found not guilty, will sit in Parliament; those who are found guilty, will sit in jail," he said. Modi said the government would then turn its attention on to Legislative Assemblies of all states requesting similar exercise. "Doodh ka doodh aur paani ka paani ho jayega (things will be sorted out)," he said.

PTI