Modi skips Kandhamal rally

Seen as BJP's Hindutva mascot, Narendra Modi on Sunday skipped his much-awaited poll rally in Orissa's communally-sensitive Kandhamal but slammed the Congress-led UPA as "family-centric" and Third Front as "opportunist" at poll meetings elsewhere in the state.

The Gujarat chief minister could not reach Raikia in the riot-ravaged Kandhamal due to some technical fault in his chopper, BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan said.

Efforts for a telephonic address to the gathering also failed due to poor communication signal in the hilly terrain covered with dense forest, party sources said.

The BJP's star campaigner, however, mounted a scathing attack on both UPA and Third Front while addressing a series of election meetings at Nuapada, Balangir, Brajrannagar, Kichinda and state capital Bhubaneswar.

"While UPA is centred around a family and Third Front a group of opportunists, BJP is a nationalist party capable of providing foolproof security and development," he said.

Stating that UPA was disintegrating with Congress losing its allies throughout the country one after another, the Gujarat Chief Minister claimed the BJP-led NDA was gaining strength with new partners.

The firebrand BJP leader also dismissed Third Front as a "fragile and divided" house with several alliances and groups within it. "There are left alliances as well as rightist groups within the front," he said.