Is black money funding Narendra Modi’s campaign, asks Kapil Sibal

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Oct 01:  Union minister Kapil Sibal today questioned the money spent in what he called Narendra Modi’s "lavish" rallies when his party, the BJP, had campaigned so strongly against black money.

"Mr Modi makes speeches from lavish stages. If you are so against black money, which is a good thing, you should also investigate where the 10-15 crores spent on stadiums is coming from," Mr Sibal said, taking on the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate amid a raging battle over the legacy of Sardar Patel, one of India’s founding fathers.

 

The minister added caustically that Mr Modi is "very eager to become Prime Minister, but does not believe in transparency and accountability."

Mr Sibal also challenged Mr Modi to a debate. "Let him select the date, time, subject, place and even the language he wants to use, I am ready. But he will never do it. He couldn’t hold a press conference till date, what will he debate with me?"

BJP leaders quickly returned fire. "Second rank leaders of the Congress have jumped in to mount an attack on Modi," said Arun Jaitley.

BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad added, "This is the same Sibal who said that there’s zero loss in the 2G scam. Let him first debate with me, then he can think of Modi."

The political battle ahead of the state polls and the national election due by May, peaked during recent events to mark Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary on Thursday.

At a function yesterday, Mr Modi stressed that it was "unjust" to associate Sardar Patel with any one party, a rejoinder to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks earlier that he was proud to be associated with the party of Sardar Patel.

Mr Sibal’s attack comes a day after the Gujarat Chief Minister launched a project to build a giant statue of Sardar Patel in the middle of the Narmada river, seen by his critics as an unsubtle attempt to appropriate the legacy of an icon who was a lifelong Congressman.

Two Congress ministers declined Mr Modi’s invitation to the launch and the party said he needed "lessons in history".