Aurangabad (Maharashtra): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today (Dec 14, 2003) said he is willing to face Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar and give the latter a "chance to be a martyr".

Tendulkar, a noted litterateur in Maharashtra, had created a ripple by making a sensational statement that he would kill Modi if he had a revolver.

Speaking from the podium of the "Maha Expo 2003", Modi said he is "never in tension and always in attention".

He was replying to earlier comments made in lighter vein by Maharashtra's former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde that the organisers have kept Tendulkar out and there was no need for Modi to be tense.

Modi said he would pray to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to give a revolver licence to Tendulkar.

Munde, in his speech, had said the State Government should not give revolver licence to Tendulkar, all in lighter vein.

PTI