Surat, Dec 7 (PTI) Posters appealing Muslims to vote forCongress to make Ahmed Patel the chief minister came up insome minority-dominated areas here on the last day ofcampaigning for first phase of Gujarat polls, but Patel calledit a "dirty trick" by the BJP and said he was not in the race.
Patel, who is Congress President Sonia Gandhi' politicaladvisor, stressed that he was never a candidate for the chiefminister's post and "never will be".
The posters that came up in old city area and Surat-Eastconstituency of the diamond and trading hub which goes topolls on Saturday carried photos of Congress vice presidentRahul Gandhi and Ahmed Patel.
"Muslims are requested to vote for Congress party tomaintain unity of the community and make Ahmed Patelwazir-e-aalam (chief minister) of Gujarat," read the posters.
Trashing the posters, Patel alleged that such acts showthe "utter desperation" of the BJP as it fears defeat.
"Putting up fake posters and orchestrating a rumourcampaign shows the utter desperation of the BJP.
"Fearing defeat, do they have to rely on such dirtytricks? I have never ever been a candidate for CM and willnever, ever be," he tweeted.
He said the BJP is trying to divert the narrative fromits performance to a divisive agenda.
"The moot issue is that BJP is trying very very hardto divert the narrative from its performance of last 22 yearsto a divisive agenda.
"Hence their reliance on lies & propaganda. But people ofGujarat have made up their mind this time," Patel said inanother tweet.
Congress leader RPN Singh today said Patel will not holdany post in Gujarat if the party comes to power.
"We have seen fake banners that have come up at manyplaces in Gujarat (in the name of Congress, claiming AhmedPatel will become the chief minister). There has to be acertain level of politics in a democracy, and Rahul Gandhi andCongress party do not go below that level," Singh said.
"But doing something like putting up posters ofopposition parties and deciding that Ahmed Patel will be ourchief minster is not right," he told reporters in Ahmedabad.
When Congress forms government, Ahmed Patel will holdno post in the state government, he said.
"Ahmed Patel has himself said this, but I would like tomake it clear that such politics of putting up fake posters isnot going to work in Gujarat as people here are intelligentand understand everything," he said. PTI PD KA GKRT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.