Modi's jibe at PM, says better days after LS poll

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) mascot for the 2014 poll Narendra Modi on Thursday took a not-so-subtle dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while addressing a conclave of expatriate Indians organised by the Centre.

He was countered by the chief minister of Congress-ruled Meghalaya, Mukul Sangma, who also addressed the congregation of the overseas Indians.

Speaking at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi, the Gujarat chief minister mocked the prime minister’s recent claim that the nation was heading into better times ahead. “I agree with the prime minister. Good days are ahead for India. I don’t want to say anything more. We should wait for four to six months. But good days are coming,” said Modi.

He was apparently predicting that his party would win the next parliamentary elections that might be held in April-May.

Sangma, who addressed the conclave just after Modi, countered the Gujarat chief minister and said that the nation was heading towards “better days” as the United Progressive Alliance government had over the past decade laid “a strong foundation” with a series of “revolutionary legislations” like the Right to Information Act, Right to Education Act and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

“Better days would come because strong foundation has been laid by the leadership,” said Sangma. “The MGNREGA liberated agriculture work force from suppression and oppression and pushed up wages, ensuring them work and money,” he added.

Not only Modi and Sangma, but chief ministers of Haryana and Kerala Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Oommen Chandy  spoke in a session on investment opportunities in the states.

Singh recently told a news conference that it would be disastrous for the country to have Modi as the prime minister.

Modi chose the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to retaliate with a jibe at the prime minister, who on Wednesday sought to allay concerns and apprehensions of the expatriate community about the current gloom in economy in India.