Ahmedabad • The Congress yesterday voiced its opposition to the Gujarat government’s stand on the Narmada issue accusing Chief Minister Narendra Modi of deceiving the people of Gujarat.
The party claimed that Modi himself had requested the Federal Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz to call a meeting of the Narmada Control Authority Review Committee (NCARC) over the issue of increasing the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam. “The Chief Minister himself had demanded the review committee meeting, and then took to fasting, protesting against it. This was nothing but a gimmick. It was an attempt to deceive the people of Gujarat by showing false desperation on the issue,” leader of Opposition Arjun Modhvadia told reporters here.
To substantiate the charge, he produced a copy of the letter Modi had written to Soz February 6. The controversy, however, had begun after the Narmada Control Authority increased the dam height from 111.64 to 121.92 metres on March 8, more than a month after Modi’s letter to Soz.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Purushottam Rupala objected to the Congress claim and said: “It was a mutual understanding that nobody would do politics on the Narmada issue, then why is the Congress raising such issues?”

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