The Congress on Friday termed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a “national embarrassment” for criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation on Independence Day and accused him of “crossing all limits in over-ambition” and for his “abrasive hunger for power”.
“Modi may be an asset to the BJP, but he is a national embarrassment. I can say this without any hesitation. He is boastful and makes tall claims about the development model of Gujarat,” Union Minister Anand Sharma said. latching on to lK Advani’s apparent disapproval of Modi’s attack on the PM, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said, “On Modi’s Independence Day speech, I and Advaniji are on the same page. Modi’s abrasive hunger for power has no limits.”
“He has crossed all limits. Now it should be a worry for BJP leaders that how long will they carry such an over-ambitious person on their shoulders,” he said. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid compared Modi to a frog. “What should I say about ModiIJ He is like a frog just out of the well and at a loss to find the right place for himself in the big wide world,” he said in Dehradun.
Modi wants the Congress to accept him as a challenge, Khurshid added, “We are fighting the election against the BJP. First he should get hold over the BJP. Thereafter, we will see, whether he is a challenge or not. Right now he is not being able to convince BJP itself.” He charged Modi with breaking all norms and tradition in his over ambition.
Information and Broad casting Minister Manish Tewari said that when the PM speaks from the ramparts of Red Fort, he represents the hopes and aspirations of 120 crore people of the country and if anybody thinks that he can compare one’s speech with that of the PM’s speech, “nothing can reflect one’s desperation more”.
Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad said that when PM spoke about illiteracy and ignorance in his speech, he appears to have been referring to Modi.