Congress should apologise for disrespecting PM Narendra Modi: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 9 February said the Congress should offer an unconditional apology to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parliament.

"The Congress Party should tender an unconditional apology for not respecting the Prime Minister, for obstructing the Parliament, for not showing respect to the Prime Minister, for making the running commentary and also creating disturbance in the House. This has not happened for the first time, but earlier as well. The Prime Minister is not only respected in India, but respected worldwide," said the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu.

"They called the Prime Minister by names umpteen number of times inside the House. They called him Hitler, Mussolini and Gaddafi and they made all sorts of meaningless remarks against him. It is a shame that the opposition is not able to understand the reality of the situation and is trying to make issues out of non-issues and in contrary they are asking the PM to apologies. Why should the PM apologise?" the minister added.

He further said that the Prime Minister is doing a great job and he has given a very meaningful and constructive intervention in the House, explained the point of view of the government, and the progress being made.

"The Prime Minister has complimented Dr. Manmohan Singh for his work. If the Congress cannot accept the compliment then we cannot help it," he said.

Echoing similar emotions, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said that in the name of Dr. Manmohan Singh the Congress is looking for a cover because Prime Minister Modi has uncovered them.

"Under the 10 years rule of UPA and Congress there were too many scams be it 2G scam or coal scam. Despite, Prime Minister Modi complimented Dr. Manmohan Singh. But the Congress party has created disturbance and created an issue based on this. I think Congress should do introspection," Kumar said.

After his 'earthquake' jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament, the Prime Minister on Wednesday earned the wrath of the grand old party by training guns at Dr. Manmohan Singh during the Parliament session.

"Dr. Manhmohan has played a significant role in the economic system of India. But during the most corrupt regime in the nation, there was not a single corruption charge against him. This art of taking bath wearing a raincoat must be learnt from Manmohan Singh," the Prime Minister said, setting off cries of outrage by the Congress.

Immediately the Congress MPs staged a walkout, to which the Prime Minister responded, saying that if the Opposition breaches decorum then they should also have the courage to listen to the response.

Outside the Parliament, Dr. Singh maintained his trademark calm and simply chose not to respond to questions over the Prime Minister's statement.

- ANI