M Venkaiah Naidu launched a scathing attack on the Congress for calling statements of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images] anti-national and saying he should be tried for treason. "What else can you expect from the Congress government but to launch treason proceedings against Modi and confer the Bharat Ratna on Mohammad Afzal Guru who was awarded death sentence for attacking Parliament in December 2001," he told rediff.com in a conversation on Thursday.

Asked to react to Naidu's statement, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari asked Naidu to go to party leader L K Advani and ask him why he did not hang 15 others on death row when he was Union home minister.

According to the BJP, Modi had voiced his anger as he was fed up with the discrimination by the Centre between Congress-ruled states and non-Congress-ruled states. Modi was in Mehsana district of Gujarat where a breach in the Narmada canal had flooded many villages. He camped in Sujatpura to personally supervise the relief and rehabilitation work.

In his statement, Modi asked the Centre to sign an MoU for one year, where the state would send no money to the Centre and vice versa. He claimed after that period he would show to the Union government how much profit could be made. In reply, the Centre accused him of not utilising money sent to the state government.