Don't practice Guj model in any other state: Cong to BJP

Narendra Modi's promise to convert Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat drew sharp reaction from Congress today as it alluded to the 2002 post-Godhra riots, warning that brotherhood and communal harmony will rupture in such an eventuality.
"We will request him with folded hands that you do not put into practice the attitude, policy and mentality of Gujarat government in any other state, otherwise development and social amity and brotherhood will be torn apart," Congress spokesperson Randip Surjewala told reporters.
Picking further on Modi's speech in Gorakhpur in which he attacked Congress, SP and BSP saying have "one master", an apparent reference to the support to the Congress government by the two UP-based parties, he said Modi should realise that nation building does not happen through political mudslinging.

"Denigrating and denouncing political opponents or parties by phraseology and slogans is not a way forward for the country. It is an old habit of Modi to ridicule political opponents with sarcastic barbs. Instead, he should come out with solid programmes," he said.
Responding to Modi's remarks that train travellers felt much safer when they entered Gujarat, Union minister Manish Tewari said, "Insofar as trains leaving Uttar Pradesh and coming through Gujarat are concerned, I think this country has not forgotten a train which left Ayodhya, what happened to it when it reached Gujarat and the subsequent aftermath of the destruction and the mayhem which then ensued."

Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said trains going to Gujarat from Gorakhpur also passed through BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. "If Modi considers chief ministers of these two-BJP ruled states as incompetent, I have nothing to say."
Senior Congress minister Kapil Sibal sought to paint a bleak picture on the issue of corruption in the BJP-ruled states including Gujarat.
"In Gujarat, Babulal Bokharia has been convicted but Modi did not throw him out of the state cabinet... BJP has brought B S Yeddyurappa back and Modi is silent about it. Legislators were found involved in land grab deals. What Modi said about that," he asked.