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ATS framing innocent Army officials: Modi

RAIPUR: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of framing “innocent” Army officials, in connection with the Malegaon blasts.

Addressing an election rally in Dhamtari, 80 km from here in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Mr. Modi said the Army officials were doing their duty for the sake of their motherland and charged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government with hurting the morale of the armed forces by suspecting them to be behind terrorist activities.

Mr. Modi’s remarks come in the backdrop of the ATS in Congress-ruled Maharashtra arresting a Lieutenant Colonel and putting a couple of more officers under its scanner. He also attacked Congress’ new ally, Samajwadi Party, for questioning the recent Batla House encounter in Delhi, in which two terrorists and a policeman were killed.

“Such acts by responsible ruling members are deliberate attempts to demoralise the security forces,” he said.

Harping on his pet issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, Mr. Modi said the local Congress candidate was also an outsider, and added that, it was the tradition of the Congress to get leaders from outside and urged the people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Given the fact that Dhamtari is considered the ‘Punjab’ of Chhattisgarh in terms of food grain production, Mr. Modi said that the country’s granaries were empty under the present UPA government. — PTI

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