Nanavati report timing not for electoral gains, says Modi

Defending the timing of the Nanavati Commission report, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has claimed the findings were not intended for electoral gains.
    
"The best timing of the report for me would have been before the assembly polls ... Lok Sabha elections are still six months away," he said.
    
Modi said after the Commission submitted the report, it was the constitutional duty of his government to table it before the legislative assembly as soon as possible.
    
"When Nanavati Commission presents a report on the anti-Sikh riots it is acceptable to the Congress, but when it submits a report on Gujarat, it is criticised," he told a news channel.
    
Attacking the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, he said "it is not a friendly government at the Centre for the last four-and-a-half years. If they had even a small proof of my guilt, don't you think they would have hung me," he said.     

Modi claimed his government was the first to include the chief minister and his council of ministers in the terms of reference of an enquiry commission.
    
"It is in their terms of reference and I will be mentioned even in the second part of the report. In fact, mine is the first government to include the chief minister in the Terms of Reference of a enquiry commission," Modi, who was elected to power in the state for third consecutive term last December, said.
    
Modi replaced Keshubhai Patel as Chief Minister in the latter phase of the BJP rule and went on to sweep the polls after Gujarat riots in 2002.