BJP lashes out at PM for his attack on Modi, says his language lacked dignity

New Delhi: BJP on Friday reacted angrily to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's attack on Narendra Modi, saying it was unfortunate as the party's PM candidate has come out unscathed after going through unprecedented legal scrutiny not experienced by any leader in independent India.

"Using such a phrase against Modi (that he will be disastrous for the country as premier) does not add to the dignity of the PM office... If the dirty tricks department of the Congress had used such language, it is understandable," Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

He said using such phraseology was regrettable as besides Modi "no one else in India since 1947 has gone through such a scrutiny involving the Police, Supreme Court, an SIT probe ordered by the SC and a Commission of inquiry.."

He scoffed at the Prime Minister for his remarks that whatever corruption had happened was in UPA-I and after that the Congress has won the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

"The Prime Minister has manufactured a new logic. Electoral sanction to a corrupt government wipes out an allegation. First time, a Prime Minister has given such a logic....I feel sorry", he said.

Asserting that Modi will become a 'very good' PM, Jaitley said that the Prime Minister could have used the same logic for Modi as he has won three elections in Gujarat since the 2002 riots, but Singh has not done so.

The senior BJP leader claimed that the press conference saw a frank admission by the Prime Minister that his government has failed on containing corruption and inflation and raising employment which is a 'perfect recipe for disaster'.

Speaking separately, BJP President Rajnath Singh condemned the anti-Modi remarks. He said that the Prime Minister had admitted to the dual power centre that existed in the UPA government, a contention that the saffron party has been making for quite some time.

Rajnath Singh said that the Prime Minister has accepted that the next government is not going to be that of UPA and that is why is has opted himself out for a third term.

Jaitley dismissed suggestions that the Prime Minister's attack on Modi will be harmful for the BJP in the polls. He recalled that the 'merchant of death' (maut ka saudagar) remarks against the Gujarat Chief Minister by Sonia Gandhi had not damaged the BJP in the state elections earlier.

He said the low point in the PM's tenure was the 'bribing' of MPs in order to endorse the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister for his remarks that history will take a kinder look at him and that time will tell about the performance of his government, Jaitley said, "In a democracy, time does not tell, voters tell and tell most emphatically".

"What they are likely to tell us is bad news for the Congress party and bad news primarily against Manmohan Singh Government".

The BJP leader said the Prime Minister's press meet was intended to announce his own farewell and was a formality but it turned out to be a 'farce' because of the remarks he made on various issues.

"Instead of striking an introspective note at the farewell meet, the Prime Minister appeared bitter - slight bitter about the media and more so about the opposition and really more aginst Modi", he said.

Dubbing the ten-year rule of Manmohan Singh as 'a wasted opportunity', he said that the view of history is also 'not going to be flattering'.

"Obviously, the comparative quality of leadership in the principal fronts" will be debated in the polls, he said when asked whether the coming Lok Sabha elections will witness a Modi vs Rahul Gandhi contest after Manmohan Singh opting out of the race today.

He did not agree with a questioner that Rahul could be more than a match for the BJP as he is an 'untested entity'.

"If after ten years in Parliament and public life, he is untested entity, then it only reflects on how much impact he had in the last 10 years", Jaitley remarked.

Asked as to what was the high point in the Prime Minister's tenure, he said that it was the fact that he got re-elected in 2009. "It was an important milestone as far as he is concerned".

Replying to a question, former envoy Hardeep Singh Puri who joined the BJP yesterday, wondered why there was no reference in the PM's press meet to internal security or reining in of terror machinery from across the border.