Kejriwal continues tirade against media, Narendra Modi

Firebrand Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, clearly immune to media criticism, today continued his intemperate attacks on the media and on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP's declared candidate for prime ministership in the upcoming elections.

Taking his fund-raising road show from Maharashtra to Karnataka, Kejriwal again questioned whether the media had the courage to show the "true story" about Narendra Modi's Gujarat.

"Will the media have the courage to show Gujarat's true story to the people of the country? There is a big question mark," Kejriwal told news persons before another American-style fund-raising dinner, like those he has already held in Mumbai and elsewhere.

On Thursday during a similar fund-raiser in Nagpur, Kejriwal raised hackles by alleging that the media were virtually in the pocket of Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and went so far as to say that he would jail errant journalists if he could do so. (See: Media sold out to Modi, will jail journalists: Kejriwal).

During his two-day tour of Karnataka, Kejriwal will this evening attend a Rs20,000 per person dinner at an inexpensive Bangalore hotel, whose owners probably never dreamt that they could serve such exorbitantly-priced dinners.

Asked about the evidence to back his allegations about Modi, he said the condition of farmers in Gujarat was "pathetic" as their land had been ''snatched'' away from them.

"There is a publicity going around that Modiji is a saviour of farmers. No, Modiji is not the saviour. The country's farmers have been told a lie ... if the farmers come to know of it, none of them will vote for Modi. I am not generalising. I have seen it myself in Gujarat. Therefore, I ask the media to show the truth," he pleaded – rather unconvincingly, as so far he has not managed to produce a shred of proof for his far-flung allegations.