EC to consider Narendra Modi's reply tommorow

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission will meet on Sunday to consider the response sent by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi even as it sought a report on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's remarks about 'merchants of death'.

The full Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy will consider the reply of Modi in which he said his speech was entirely against terrorism and he had not justified the encounter killing of Sohrabuddin.

The chief minister said the Commission issued the notice to him on the basis of unverified and false media reports.

EC sources said the Commission has also sought from the state election machinery details of Gandhi's speech at Navsari in Gujarat on December 1, describing BJP government as 'merchants of fear and death'.

In his reply, Modi said though the state unit of BJP had sent separate complaints, no action has been taken by the EC.

The full Commission is also leaving for Gujarat on Sunday as the campaign for the first phase of polling on December 11 comes to an end.

It's a war against India: Narendra Modi

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said there is one mastermind terrorist organisation triggering the blasts in different parts of the country. ( Watch )

Speaking to reporters after reviewing security at the city police headquartes here, Modi said the common pattern of all the blasts in the country was an indication that one terrorist organisation or nation was behind them.

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Modi said, " Desh ke dushmano ne aj Gandhi ke dharti to rakt ranjit kar diya hai (Enemies of the country have spilled blood in the land of Mahatma Gandhi). I have told all these things to the Prime Minister and Home Minister."

Asserting that these blasts would not deter Gujarat from the path of progress, he said terrorists would not succeed in their plans.

Modi also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each victim of the bomb blasts.

16 blasts rocked Ahmedabad this evening killing 29 people and leaving about 88 injured.

"Terrorists are waging a war against India. We should be prepared for a long battle against terrorism," he said adding that killing innocent people is a crime against humanity.

Asking people to maintain peace Modi said Gujarat will track down the terrorists and bring them to justice.

Narendra Modi keeps SIT guessing on date

"There is no response from Modi as yet," SIT chief R K Raghavan told agencies. The SIT is conducting an inquiry on directives from the SC into the complaint filed by Zakia since April last year. She had alleged that Modi, his cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats aided and abetted the riots that left over 1,000 people dead. The former MP was killed along with 68 others by a mob at Gulbarg Society on February 28, 2002.

Zakia lodged a complaint on June 8, 2006 before the then director general of police P C Pande, which was not registered and then she moved the Gujarat HC. The SIT refused to disclose what evidence it has against Modi in this case.

Swine flu: Narendra Modi's condition improves

AHMEDABAD: The condition of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is suffering from swine flu, has improved overnight, doctors attending on him said today.

"His temperature has started coming down and cold and cough is also improving," virologist Atul Patel, one of the five doctors treating Modi, said.

"There is no cause of worry as the health of chief minister has relatively improved and he is responding to treatment," Patel said in a medical bulletin released here after examining Modi this morning.

According to Patel, the chief minister has been on bed rest since yesterday morning.

59-year-old Modi has been kept in isolation at his Gandhinagar residence and has been advised rest for a week. A team of doctors is attending on him round-the-clock.

The BJP leader had complained of cough, fever and body ache on Friday after his return from Russia and tested positive for the virus the same day.

Public functions scheduled to be attended by Modi to mark the birth anniversary of first home minister of the country Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were cancelled today due to the chief minister's ill health.

CBI wants to question Narendra Modi too

AHMEDABAD: The CBI team, which has sent former minister of state for home Amit Shah behind bars, is likely to seek permission from its headquarters soon to question CM Narendra Modi who is also holding the home portfolio.

Another special investigation team (SIT), which is probing the Gulbarg Society massacre of 2002, had questioned Modi for nine hours on March 27 this year.

The finger of suspicion in the Sohrabuddin-Kauserbi killing is pointing at Modi because he signed the transfer orders of then CID chief G C Raiger around midnight of February 3-4, 2007, while he was holding a 'Chintan Shivir' at Karai Police Academy on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Modi has held these two-day camps on numerous occasions in the past, holding ministers and top officials captive and giving them his broad vision of the way forward for Gujarat. These 'shivirs' are normally organized in places where there is enough accommodation for almost 100 or more participants to spend one-two nights together. This was the first 'shivir' for IPS officers — the previous ones had involved bureaucrats and ministers.

Contempt petition filed against Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to hear next week a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in connection with the probe ordered against him and others for post-Godhra riots.

The petition was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan which decided to hear it next week.

The petition was filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan who has been assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter of Jakia Nasim, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. She had accused the Gujarat government of not entertaining her complaint relating to Jafri, who was killed in the 2002 riots.

In the contempt petition, it is alleged that Modi had remarked that the probe against him was ordered by the Supreme Court as a result of a conspiracy involving Congress.

The advocate also referred to a subsequent advertisement which had claimed that efforts were on to send Modi to jail. The same advertisement had claimed that a clean chit will be given to Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Narendra Modi expands cabinet, reshuffles portfolios

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi expanded his council of ministers Wednesday, inducting six new ministers of state, taking the ministry's total strength to 27.

The portfolios of three ministers of states were reshuffled.

The six ministers - Liladhar Vaghela (Deodhar), Ishvarbhai Patel (Ankleshvar), Ranjit Gilatwala (Surat), Jitu Sukhadia (Vadodara), Jaydratsinh Parmar(Halol) and Mohan Kunderia(Tankara) - were sworn in by governor Kamala Beniwal at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.

Two of those sworn-in, Parmar and Patel, were already parliamentary secretaries. This is the second cabinet expansion in six months and follows less than a week after Modi inducted eight partymen as chairmen of state public sector boards and corporations.

With this expansion, Modi has completed the ministerial strength of 27 permitted under the constitutional arrangement.

The new inductees were allotted portfolios later in the day.

While Liladhar Vaghela was given labour and employment, Mohan Kunderia got rural development, Jaydratsinh Parmar roads and buildings, Jitendra Sukhadia tourism, food and civil supplies and non-resident Gujaratis(NRSs), Ishvarbhai Patel cooperation, sports, youth and cultural affairs, and Ranjit Gilitwala cottage industries and planning.

The portfolios of three other ministers of state were reshuffled.

Minister of state Saurabh Patel, who earlier held civil aviation, cottage industries, salt industries, printing and stationery (independent charge), industries, mines, minerals, finance, energy and petrochemicals, now gives up cottage industries, salt industries, printing and stationary.

Minister of state Jashwant Bhabhor, who earlier held tribal development, rural development, labour and employment, has shed rural development and labour and employment. He has picked up panchayat and rural housing.

Similarly, minister of state Parbat Ahir, who had water supply, cooperation, health and family welfare, has given up cooperation portfolio.

Jaffri fired on mob, defends Narendra Modi

ahmedabad: gujarat chief minister narendra modi termed as ''barbaric'' the mass killing of minority community residents in two parts of the city. regarding the killing of former congress mp ehsan jaffri, he said, ''there was firing from inside the house''. addressing a press conference on friday, modi described the chamanpur and naroda incidents as ''inhuman'' and said these incidents were ''no different'' from what happened in godhra. he, however, asserted that the guilty, would be ''dealt with strictly''. he cautiously skirted the questions on who ''could be behind'' the ghastly attack on the members of the minority group, but in the same breath said, ''before congress leader jaffri's house was set ablaze, reports claim that there was firing on the mob from inside his residence''.