Unlike Narendra Modi, LK Advani wishes PM on Independence Day

Mangalore Today/CNN-IBN

New Delhi, Aug 15, 2013: In a clear snub to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for taking on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leader LK Advani wished the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet on the occasion of Independence Day. Advani also got the backing of the Shiv Sena which said that there are 364 other days in the year to comment on the Prime Minister.

 

"We have the entire year ahead of us to comment on what the Prime Minister says. Today we must listen to him and let the criticism for some other day," said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in Mumbai.

Earlier, Advani struck a completely different note from Modi who took on Singh in his Independence Day speech and blamed him for not taking a strong stand on Pakistan, failing to revive the economy and for massive corruption in the country.

"Today, I want to wish the entire nation a Happy Independence Day. When I say the entire nation, I don’t think some of them are my own and some are not. So I want to wish the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet on this occasion. I want this feeling to grow that we must realise that without criticising anyone this nation has unlimited potential," said Advani in New Delhi.

But the BJP maintained that Singh’s speech was lacklustre and offered no remedies for the myriad problems plaguing India. Dismissing his Independence Day speech as irrelevant, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "There was nothing in the Prime Minister’s speech to give hope to people. He spoke about secularism. But the truth is that there has been a greater threat to secularism under the Congress rule. He was attacking Congressmen only. But BJP is secular and takes everyone along. Wherever we are in the government, it is a completely secular government."

"I don’t want to be unfair and rate the Prime Minister’s speech. He is not going to speak as a Prime Minister again," he added.


In war of words, Salman Khurshid suggests Narendra Modi is ’khalnayak’


Hitting back at Narendra Modi for his attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress today said that he was indulging in "petty politics" and rejected as "tall talk" his challenge for a public debate.

 

"Prime Minister will come last. Let him debate with us first," Union Minister Salman Khurshid said in New Delhi when asked about the Gujarat Chief Minister’s challenge to the Prime Minister.

He said that Mr Modi is "so restless to become something big in the country" that he forgets that this is a day when political differences are forgotten.

To a question about Mr Modi comparing his speech with that of the Prime Minister, Mr Khurshid said it was a case of "tall talk by a person with small stature (Chhota munh badi baat)".

"Petty politics must not be allowed...," he said to a question whether politics is taking over Indo-Pak relationship.

Mr Modi, in his Independence Day speech in Bhuj, had slammed the Prime Minister for India’s "weak and feeble" response to provocations from Pakistan and China.