New Delhi, Apr 5: A day after he gave a strong indication of his prime ministerial ambitions, Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came under heavy fire from not only from Congress and its allies, but also from NDA ally JD-U.
The first salvo was fired today by Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari, who said he was worried about Modi's intentions. "...I often worry about the statements of the Gujarat Chief Minister. I hope he doesn't want to do in the rest of India what he did in Gujarat in 2002," he said in New Delhi.
AICC spokesman Rashid Alvi also appeared to compare Modi with "yamraj", the Lord of death in Hindu mythology.
Hours later, senior NCP leader Tariq Anwar said it appeared Modi was not satisfied with presiding over the Gujarat riots and that he wanted to "re-enact the carnage" in the entire country.
UPA's key outside ally Samajwadi Party too joined in the attack against the Gujarat CM, saying there was more publicity and less work done by him. "I don't think that a single person can save the country. It's good to dream but public will decide who they want to give the country's leadership to," SP leader Naresh Agarwal said.
NDA ally JD(U) too mocked at Modi's statement, saying the country could be served even by serving Gujarat and that Modi had brazenly expressed his prime ministerial ambition. "The country can be served even by serving Gujarat. Nitish Kumar is serving Bihar. In a way, he is also serving the nation," JD-U general secretary and party spokesman Shivanand Tewari said in Patna.
