Tongues wag as Modi praises Mulayam

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday publicly heaped praises on Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The move could provide ammunition to the “Janata Parivar” to attack Mulayam for quitting the alliance, and lend credence to speculations of his growing proximity with the NDA.
Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, about 500 km from here, Modi showered praises on Mulayam for “strengthening democracy” by trying to ensure that Parliament functioned smoothly.

“The Congress tried with all its might to stall functioning of Parliament...but Mulayam, who is our opponent, wants to strengthen democracy and he extended all help in smooth functioning of the House,” Modi said.

“Mulayam Singhji raat-raat mehnat karte rahe ki sansad chale,” (Mulayam Singh burnt midnight’s oil so that Parliament could function), Modi remarked.

Modi also avoided attacking the SP, the ruling party in the state, though he called for “constructive politics”.

“The state will face elections in 2017. We must all avoid negative politics and work for the betterment of the people,” he said.

Modi, however, launched a scathing attack on the Congress and said the party was not able to “digest” its “massive defeat” in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“The party (Congress) is not ready to accept its defeat even though it has been reduced from 400 to 40...Instead of introspecting, it was indulging in negative politics,” he remarked.

“While the mother (Sonia) is analysing the defeat...The son (Rahul) is wondering how a tea seller’s son became prime minister,” Modi said.

Modi also referred to the land bill and said many state governments, which had earlier raised objections to the old bill, later changed their views.

His praise may give credence to the speculations that Mulayam has softened stand towards the NDA.

It was widely speculated that the ongoing CBI probe into the millionaire former Noida Authority chief engineer Yadav Singh might have been behind the decision of the SP to pull out of the “Janata Parivar”.
DH News Service