Gujarat wanted to question Malegaon blast accused: Modi

New Delhi, Nov 25 (IANS) Accusing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of being 'soft' on terror, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said his police department was denied permission to interrogate the Malegaon blast accused, including an in-service army officer.

'When we arrested terror accused in Gujarat, we allowed interrogation by other states. But when we sought to interrogate the Malegaon terror accused, we were denied the permission,' Modi said, addressing an election rally here.

Speaking about the alleged torture of Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, a blast accused, by Mumbai Anti Terrorism Squad, Modi said: 'Sonia Gandhi herself is a woman but she allowed it to happen. This shows there is something wrong here.'

Continuing his tirade against the Congress and its 'soft stand on terror', Modi, campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also spoke about the Batla House shootout between the police and alleged terrorists.

'A Delhi Police officer was martyred during the encounter but this government is defending terrorists arrested from the Batla House. Some politicians are even demanding judicial probe,' he said sarcastically at the BJP rally in Kalkaji, south Delhi.

Modi said the Delhi government had failed to provide security to women, children and senior citizens.

Electricity charges have been hiked 'four times in the last few years but in Gujarat, it has not gone up even once', he told a gathering of nearly 1,500 people who waited for over 90 minutes to listen to Modi.

Earlier in the day, Modi was disallowed to hold a rally in Balmiki Basti in the New Delhi constituency where BJP's Vijay Jolly is contesting against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

'Sonia Gandhi can hold rallies, Mayawati can hold rallies but there is problem in Modi holding rallies,' he said.

The Gujarat chief minister said he had met Dikshit a few days back. Though Dikshit talked to him nicely, 'she had told me not come to her constituency… I thought she was joking. But today I realised it was not a joke'.