In what could lead to yet another controversy, the Congress on Monday sought to pin the blame for the Patna serial blasts on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi saying it was the result of the negative campaign being run by him which has vitiated the entire atmosphere.
"The political atmosphere is vitiated by negative campaign, hatred and suspicions by only one person and that is the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate by the kind of utterances and choice of words publicly. We request such people to refrain from it and allow an healthy environment for the elections to be fought in a democratic and violence free manner," Congress spokesperson PC Chacko told media persons.
Not ruling out a "political conspiracy", Chacko said that already a blame game between the two erstwhile NDA partners has begun, but Congress party is worried and sad about the incident and condemn the act. "All possible help from the Centre is being provided to the State for investigations. So we should not draw any conclusion now because that will help the forces which may take advantage of the situation," Chacko said and denied any linkage of the blasts with the Muzzafarnagar riots.
The Congress which held its Central Election Committee and Manifesto Committee meetings earlier in the day condemned the violence before the a political rally in Patna. "Tallest Congress leaders have fallen to such nefarious acts till the recent ones with V C Shukla and Kerala Chief Minister being also attacked. We have successfully held 15 General elections in the country and would see the next one too. Any attempts for communal polarisation, which the Opposition has been active in, in the recent past to garner votes, should not be there. The BJP's PM candidate's each and every speech is full of bitterness. Criticism is ok but beyond that ..," Chacko said.
To a query on Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde attending a Bollywood programme instead of going to the blast site, Chacko said ultimately the Home Minister is doing his job and has done it with full sincerity.