Responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s scathing criticism in London of the Modi government, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said during a visit to the United States few years back, he clearly told local media that then prime minister of India and senior Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh was not an ‘underachiever.’
“When Dr Manmohan Singh was the country’s PM, I was on a visit to the US. There, the American press asked me if Dr Manmohan Singh was an ‘underachiever.’ Then, I replied that he is not the prime minister of the Congress but of whole India, and an Indian prime minister can never be an ‘underachiever’,” Chouhan, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wrote on Twitter.
Though the 63-year-old politician did not specify the year in which he undertook the said visit, Manmohan Singh was, in July 2012, described by the prestigious Time magazine as an ‘underachiever.’
Chouhan, meanwhile, slammed Gandhi, describing him as the nation’s most ‘unsuccessful, frustrated and desperate’ leader. The Madhya Pradesh CM tweeted: “No politician who is a patriot makes anti-India remarks on foreign soil. Nobody listens to him in India and, therefore, he is taking out his frustration at a foreign event.”
Because of such statements, he said, the Congress MP's patriotism and loyalty to the country are bound to be questioned.
“It surprises me that many Congress leaders are on a mission to make such a person the president of their party. If this is the case, then only God can save Congress,” Chouhan added.
"On Friday, addressing the ‘Ideas of India’ conference in London, Rahul Gandhi, a vocal critic of the Modi government, criticised it on a host of issues. He also slammed the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The remarks drew response from several central ministers and BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, among others.
(With inputs from agencies)