Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi will share the stage in Ahmedabad in Gujarat today at a function to commemorate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
As the two leaders come together for the launch of a museum dedicated to India's first home minister, many expect them to deliver politically-charged messages ahead of state polls and the national election due by May.
The event comes in the middle of a blame-game over the serial blasts targeting Mr Modi's rally in Patna on Sunday, which the BJP has blamed on lax security by the state's Nitish Kumar government and the Centre.
In tweets this morning, Congress leader Manish Tewari talked about Sardar Patel's criticism of MS Golwalkar, an icon of the BJP's mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, in connection with the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
"9/11/1948. Patel to Golwalkar As a final result of (communal) poison, country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji," Mr Tewari tweeted.
"Patel refers to Communal poison spread by RSS that Golwalkar headed. Does Syamsevak Modi agree with Patel on RSS? Whose Legacy they crave!"
The Congress accuses the BJP of trying to appropriate the legacy of Sardar Patel.
Mr Tewari's comments were an indication that today's function in Ahmedabad this evening could see the Dr Manmohan Singh highlight Sardar Patel's fight against communalism. He had recently said, "I sincerely hope all secular forces will combine to face the onslaught of people like Narendra Modi."
Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for 2014, has invited leaders from various parties including the Congress on Thursday, for the launch of a project to build a Sardar Patel statue, claimed to be the world's tallest.
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