The EC order ruling out early polls is giving Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi the jitters. He's gone ballistic against CEC J.M. Lyngdoh, calling him names and taking potshots at him for being a Christian and, therefore, a sympathiser of the minority communities.

Modi has apparently even had a front organisation, called the Gujarat Gaurav Samiti, release advertisements in local papers stating that the EC, along with the Minorities Commission, the Congress and leaders Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, all are for the minorities. The ads ask: "Who is meant for us (read Hindus)?" At two public meetings, organised to 'inaugurate government schemes', Modi launched a vitriolic attack on Lyngdoh. While at Rajkot he said that the EC was "denying the five crore people of Gujarat their legitimate right to vote and choose their government", in Bodeli town, Vadodara, he went to the extent of calling the EC's order a "fatwa against the polls". The day, he said, was not far off when gangsters would be given "supari" to stop elections.

"Pay them supari to kill a few people here, burn a few houses and loot some shops there, and James Michael Lyngdoh will then come down and say the situation is not conducive for a free and fair poll. The formula is simple: if you wish to defer the elections, say in Rajasthan, give supari to Dawood or Chhota Shakeel to create trouble in Kota or Jaipur or Udaipur and Lyngdoh will say the situation is not normal for elections," thundered Modi.

As for the Congress, Modi held out this threat: "They can criticise me, but if they tarnish the name of the people of Gujarat, the sword will come out of the scabbard." At one point, he also said Lyngdoh must have met Sonia Gandhi in church before deferring the Gujarat polls. The Congress has not taken this remark lightly and condemned not only the ad campaign but also Modi's insinuations against Sonia.

A BJP leader said Modi's outbursts "reflect his frustration at not being able to have his way on the polls". However, Modi may well have one consolation in that the BJP is reviving the Gujarat 'gaurav rath yatra' that had been shot down by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The yatra, starting on September 3, will criss-cross the entire state and kick off Modi's election campaign.