Narendra Modi should send apology to the Election Commission: P Chidambaram

Narendra Modi should send an apology to the Election Commission after being "caught on the wrong foot" by the poll panel, Finance Minister P Chidambarm said on Thursday. "When someone is caught on the wrong foot, the honorable thing is to send an apology. Modi was caught on the wrong foot yesterday," Chidambaram said addressing a press conference here at the AICC headquarters.

The Congress leader dismissed Modi's suggestion that there was a political conspiracy behind the registration of FIR against him by the Gujarat administration. "I wonder how many complaints the BJP has made against other parties including Congress. If all these were political conspiracies, then this also is a political conspiracy," he said, adding that "These are political statements after being caught on the wrong foot."

Modi had suggested on Wednesday night the FIR was a political conspiracy of the Congress by saying that it showed how shaken the Congress is. Addressing a campaign rally at Tirupati, Modi had said he has not committed any offence that warranted an FIR and that he only showed a lotus badge to people. Lotus is the symbol of BJP.

Stoking a huge controversy on Wednesday, Modi displayed the BJP symbol and made a speech in a polling booth in Gandhinagar in violation of electoral laws following which police filed an FIR against him.
The police action came after the Election Commission took serious note of the Gujarat Chief Minister's violation of the electoral laws, under which no person can display any election matter or address a meeting in a polling booth on the day of election, and ordered filing of an FIR against Modi.