Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday charged the Election Commission with double standards for its caution to him on his remarks about the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter while sparing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi the same for her "merchant of death" utterances.
"One notice for the son of Hindustan and another for the foreigner daughter. One decision for the son of Hindustan and another for the foreigner daughter. I think the hangover of colonial temperament continues," Modi said in his reaction to the EC's ruling on replies given by him and Gandhi on their controversial remarks made in the run up to Gujarat assembly elections.
The poll watchdog had on Sunday held that Modi and Sonia Gandhi violated the model code of conduct by their remarks but added the chief minister's speech aggravated differences between communities.
The commission asked Modi to be more cautious in the future but did not give the warning to Gandhi.
However, Chief Election Commissioner N Goapalswami said there was a need for making a distinction between the Congress president and the Gujarat chief minister in the observations on their violation of code of conduct.
"We felt there should be a difference. Can't go into the details of the discussions but we felt there was a need for a slight distinction," he said.