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Congress says it will follow Modi abroad

Last Updated 17 April 2015, 20:18 IST

Stung by Narendra Modi’s jibes at the UPA government in Canada and Germany, the Congress on Friday threatened to trail the prime minister on his official foreign visits to tell its side of the story.

The main Opposition party accused Modi of spreading lies and breaking the unwritten convention of not raising domestic political issues on foreign soil.

“Now, whenever the Prime Minister goes abroad, our spokespersons will trail him and rebut him then and there,” Congress      spokesperson Anand Sharma told reporters here.

“We cannot take it any longer,” Sharma said, taking objection to Modi’s remark in Canada where he said the BJP had inherited “scam India”.

“Those who had to spread filth have done so and gone, we are cleaning up. India is a large country and it will take time to clean...you can see there is a change in the people,” Modi had said while addressing Indian diaspora in the presence of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Sharma argued that no prime minister from Nehru to Manmohan Singh had spoken ill about the country while abroad.

“He is going as the prime minister and not as a BJP representative. This is not acceptable,” Sharma said, adding that it was a strong and vibrant India that Modi inherited.

The Congress also questioned Modi’s claims that the three-day Canada visit was the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister in 42 years.

The Opposition party circulated copies of a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Harper and the then prime minister Manmohan Singh after bilateral talks in Canada in June 2010. Singh had also attended the G-20 meeting held in Toronto.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had last visited Canada in 1973. Bilateral relations froze after India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 using Uranium sourced from nuclear power reactors supplied by Canada.

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(Published 17 April 2015, 20:18 IST)

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