His visit to Mumbai opposed by the Samajwadi Party, BJP’s poster boy and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today kicked off the party’s anti-terrorism rally by again calling the Pakistan President as “Mian Musharraf” and telling the UPA “if you can’t bring back POTA, at least allow state governments to do so”.

Speaking at the packed Shanmukhananda Hall, Modi slammed the UPA for being “soft” on terror and “appeasing minorities”.

“The Prime Minister says Akshardham happened despite POTA. May I remind him that it was only due to POTA that the perpetrators were hanged (they have been sentenced).”

“I won’t spare the merchants of death. Mujhe woh jamta nahin,” he said, pointing out that a Bill against organised crime, identical to the MCOCA in Maharashtra, had been passed by the Gujarat legislature but had been “stalled by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil”.

He said that “as Chief Minister of a border state, I will be the first to come face to face with Mian Musharraf”.

To make his point, he recalled his poll campaign in Assam earlier this year. In village after village, he claimed, he was asked about Bangla immigrants. “I told them we are in the same position. Both have foreign neighbours. The difference is, here you are troubled by Bangladesh and there, Pakistan is troubled by me.”

2 men turned over to India: Nepal daily

KATHMANDU: Two men arrested here have been handed over to Indian authorities for investigations into the Mumbai serial blasts, The Himalayan Post reported. Nepal authorities handed over the two men, Asim Ali and Waled, on Sunday and they were taken to India through the Bhairawa route, stated the daily, quoting highly-placed sources.—PTI