Narendra Modi has no moral right to be in the PM's race: Congress

Bhubaneswar, April 13: Congress on Saturday said that BJP leader Narendra Modi has no moral right to be in the race for prime ministership because of the stigma of killings in 2002 Gujarat riots.

"There is a stigma attached to Narendra Modi and he has no moral right to project himself as prime ministerial candidate as he was heading Gujarat during 2002 riots in which so many people were killed," senior Congress leader and Union Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan told reporters here.

Claiming that his party had always removed chief ministers whenever similar incidents took place in states, Khan blamed the BJP for playing divisive politics instead of taking corrective measures.

He described that the ongoing general elections is a fight between secular and communal forces and between development and disharmony, and alleged that the BJP's poll agenda has once again raised contentious issues like the Article 370 and Hindutva.

Khan further slammed the BJP for seeking votes in Modi's name on the plea of so-called Gujarat model of development and claimed that Gujarat was never backward or poor when Modi took over.

He said all the major industrial and other projects like refineries had been set up when Congress was in power in the state and Modi is simply misleading the people without doing anything.

Hitting out at BJD government in Odisha, Khan said that despite having all the potential for development, Odisha is still one of the least developed states because of misrule of the Naveen Patnaik government.

PTI