A visibly irritated Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram charged Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, a “compulsive liar” and the “encounter Chief Minister”.
Modi, during his election rallies across Tamil Nadu had described Chidambaram as “Mr Recount Minister”, ostensibly referring to the controversy associated with the latter’s win in the 2009 lok Sabha election from Sivaganga. Chidambaram defeated his nearest rival, Raja Kannappan of the AIADMK by 3,400 votes. Though Raja Kannappan insisted on recounting, the Returning Officer ignored his plea and declared Chidambaram the winner.
Kannappan approached the Madras High Court with the charge that the votes polled by him from one of the booths were entered against the name of Chidambaram by the data entry operators. The case is in advanced state of hearing in spite of efforts by Chidambaram to get the plea quashed.
The Union Finance Minister set the tone for the verbal duel by ‘ridiculing’ Modi’s knowledge of economics and his claims on the Gujarat Model of Development. Modi, during his election rallies at various places in Tamil Nadu made fun of the arrogance of Chidambaram and his efforts in preventing the move for recounting of the votes.
Chidambaram terming Modi as encounter Chief Minister is in connection with the controversial death of a group of four Islamic terrorists including a woman Ishrat Jehan who were killed in a police encounter at Ahmedabad in June 2004.