Ahmedabad:
It's a typical Modi dig at Sonia Gandhi.
"I have written scores of letters to the Centre saying there is a need to control the rise in food prices. I wrote in a language they understand. But nothing has come of it. Now I guess I will have to write to them in Italian," said the Gujarat Chief Minister at a public meeting on Friday.
The Congress' reaction was fast and furious. "Only Modi could have made such a preposterous comment. Modi must have lost it," said Manish Tiwari, the party spokesperson.
Narendra Modi has raked up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin in every election since 2002. Then, in 2007, Sonia Gandhi struck back, referring to Modi as the
Maut Ka Saudagar or 'Merchant of Death', invoking the communal riots that took place in 2002 on Modi's watch.
Modi was re-elected that December for the third time.
But with the Congress returning to power with a sound majority last May, political analysts say Modi wants to project himself as more than an irrepressible right-wing leader. He wants to be identified with issues that all voters consider important - like the seemingly unstoppable price rice that the country is confronting.
"Gujarat has initiated so many pro-poor schemes. But they are failing because the Centre can't control food inflation," he says. But at a relief camp organized by him on Friday, people complained that the envelopes they received were missing the cash they were promised.