Modi under attack: Goa CM hits out

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After “loyalist” top cop D.G. Vanzara’s salvo, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is being questioned over his handling of the 2002 communal carnage by another “loyalist” — Goa CM Manohar Parrikar.
Mr Parrikar, branded as a “hardcore Modi loyalist”, is not merely questioning Mr Modi’s handling of the carnage, but also that claimed he himself would have “done a better job”.
Adding to the confusion in the saffron camp, Mr Modi, who is expected to lead the BJP’s campaign for the 2014 general election, went on record as saying on Thursday that he never “dreams of holding the top post” and “is bound to respect the mandate given to him by the people of his Gujarat till 2017”.
Rumours are, meanwhile, floating in saffron circles that some senior BJP leaders — or their aides or relatives — could also be behind Mr Vanzara’s letter that targeted Mr Modi and one of his chief aides, Amit Shah, now on bail.
It was Mr Parrikar who had earlier not only equated BJP stalwart L.K. Advani with “rancid pickle” but had led the campaign to get Mr Modi named as the saffron face for the 2014 general election. The same “loyalist”, however, in an interview to the New York Times’ India blog “India Ink” had described the Gujarat riots as a “blot” on Mr Modi’s career, though he added he (Modi) “was not personally a part of it”.