Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday likened his Gujarat counterpart and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poll panel chief Narendra Modi to Sardar Vallabbhai Patel in a tweet.
“The stature and work of Narendra Modi can only be compared with Sardar Patel,” he said on microblogging site Twitter. The move gained significance following the praise of Chouhan for willingly wearing a skull cap during Eid festivities and criticism of Modi earlier for not doing so at another function. Chouhan’s tweet can be seen as an attempt to reach out to Modi on the day when the latter will address a rally in Hyderabad, following the UPA decision on Telanagana.
Actor Raza Murad had a few days ago praised Chouhan for his “secularism” and had said many chief ministers need to learn from him and added that wearing a cap does not affect one’s religion. “By participating in someone’s festivities, your religion would not be corrupted,” the actor had said. The actor took a jibe at Modi for having refused to wear a skull cap during his three-day Sadbhavana fast. He had said if someone has prime ministerial ambitions, that person needs to have a big heart. “No one can become a Prime Minister by dividing the society on religious lines,” he had said.
At a time when Modi is seen as the poster boy of BJP election campaign, the posters during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra of Chouhan that kicked off last month, included party’s top leaders but Modi was missing from it. The tweet can also be seen as an attempt to placate Modi. Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Hyderabad, Modi praised Chouhan for the development work being undertaken in the BJP-ruled Mahdya Pradesh. “Go to Madhya Pradesh and see the developmental programme for the girl child,” he said.