Shatrughan fires fresh salvo at PM Modi

Anybody can become PM in our country. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdaar, if he has the numbers and support."

Shatrughan Sinha. Photo: AFP

PATNA: Firing a fresh salvo, disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha today questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of Rahul Gandhi for expressing readiness to become PM, and alleged that he was indulging in "attention diversion politics" instead of answering the "pertinent" questions raised by the Congress president. In a series of tweets on a day when assembly polls are being held in Karnataka, the Patna Sahib BJP MP said the Congress president , who has "matured in the past few years", was popular with the general public and asked what was wrong if the leader heading the biggest, oldest national party saw a possibility of becoming the next Prime Minister. "Anybody can become PM in our country. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdaar, if he has the numbers and support. "Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all, isn't it their internal matter and any PMship has to be through verdict of majority," Sinha said in a a series of tweets tagging both Modi and the BJP and signing off with slogans of "Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!" Modi had mocked Rahul Gandhi's remarks that he is ready to become the PM if Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 general election, calling him immature and naamdar' (dynast). "You (Gandhi) are naamdar' , while I am kaamdar' (ordinary worker)," he had said earlier. Sinha, who is at loggerhead with party leadership ever since being ignored in Bihar election in 2015, is frequently seen in company of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who quit BJP recently after consistently attacking Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. He went to meet jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and had also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently in the national capital along with Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, another vocal critic of Modi Government. Sinha, who served as Union minister in the NDA government of A B Vajpayee, said that instead of answering "pertinent questions" raised by Congress President "we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues". "Sir, you received our full support along with media support and now you are raising slogans so that it isn't taken over? What's wrong if the president of the biggest, oldest national party sees the possibility and wishes to become the next PM, if he wins the upcoming elections," Sinha said on Twitter, tagging the BJP. "By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in the past few years and has been raising some pertinent questions which we are refusing to answer or even entertain. The Neerav, the Lalit, the Mallyas, the Bank, the Rafael deal and so on," Sinha said in another tweet, tagging both Modi and the BJP. "Instead of answering, we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues. "However Sir, its a matter of our people, our politics and our policies, so less said the better. With regards to you! Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!," the BJP leader said in another tweet on the micro blogging site.