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Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Friday criticized leaders of the Congress Party for mounting a personalised attack on the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and said the nation is witnessing a very interesting political debate ahead of the 2014 polls, and such interruptions and side comments are not desirable.
"The kind of attendance at Modi's rallies is among the largest I have seen in the last few decades. The Congress has been rattled. They don't know how to deal with the possible outcome of the 2014 general elections. Therefore second rank leaders of the Congress have jumped in to mount a personalized attack on Modi," he said.
"There is a very interesting political debate going on in this country. People are discovering what the leaders are all about, and I think this debate must continue. And therefore trying to deflect this by interruptions and side comments is not desirable," he added.
Earlier in the day, Communications and Information Technology (IT) Minister Kapil Sibal challenged Modi to a debate on any issue of national interest.
"Why to free the country from Congress? What has the Congress done? And today, I challenge Modi for a debate on any issue on any platform and in any language, be it Hindi, English or Gujarati. I challenge him to decide the day, the subject, place and language so that all is clear," Sibal told media here.
"But he will not be able to do so because he has not held any press conference yet then what will he debate with me. Have you heard him in any press conference? He just goes and delivers his speech from the podium," he added.
Modi has so far in his elections speeches issued a call for ousting the Congress, terming the party a 'burden' on the nation. He has also criticized the Congress-led UPA Government's foreign policy.
