Narendra Modi has 'deep flaws' in his character: Chidambaram

"It is no longer BJP led by Modi. It is BJP supplanted by Modi. These are dangerous things that people of India must watch carefully. If party, democracy, republic, cabinet, government, everything is supplanted by one individual, then it is dangerous.

"I, me, mine (of Modi)....people have enough time to reflect", the senior congress leader told reporters at the AICC headquarters here.

Chidambaram's attack came close on the heels of Modi targeting Sonia Gandhi at an election rally in Assam and demanding that she come clean on who helped the two Italian marines get "safe passage" from the country after killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast.

"Sonia Gandhi should answer the people on who helped the two Italian marines get safe passage from India after killing two fishermen in Kerala," he said.

Hitting out at Modi, Chidambaram said, "There are deep flaws in his character. He cannot resist from making such provocative and derogatory remarks."

The Finance Minister said that Modi had made "such perverse characterisation" of a former Chief Election Commissioner by calling him as 'James Michael Lyngdoh' in election meetings apparently referring to his religion.

"Referring to people practising a certain faith, he had said 'ham panch, hamare pachis. (we five, our 25)'. When he referred to the Congress President sometime back, he said 'das numberi'," Chidambaram said.

He said he was "astonished" by the fact that the party to which he belonged does not point out these "deep character flaws" in Modi. "These are the traits in his character about which we have been talking for the last two years."

Turning to the Italian marines issue, Chidambaram wondered what the country of the Congress President's origin had to do with it as it was a matter before the Supreme Court and the issue was between the lawyers and the courts.

Chidambaram also attacked Modi for his remarks that he would go after the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, fielded by Congress from Nanded, in the Adarsh Housing scam.

"Is he going to appoint himself as a Director of CBI. Modi has said that he will go after Chavan, that is an astonishing statement. But if he is appointing himself as CBI Director, then he will have to go against several others in his own party from the south of the Vindhyas and east of the Vindhyas. There are several people", he said.

He was asked about Modi's statement against Chavan while ignoring the CBI charge sheet against a BJP MP from Maharashtra, Ajay Sancheti, who has been accused of having eight benami flats in the Adarsh society.