New Delhi, January 3
Lashing out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his sharpest attack till date against its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the BJP termed his comment as “unfortunate” and something that did not behove the high office he holds.

“The Prime Minister’s words did not add to the dignity of the high office he holds,” senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, responding to his observation that Modi as the PM would be “disastrous for the nation”. BJP chief Rajnath Singh also termed the remarks “laughable”, especially when Modi as the Chief Minister had “presented Gujarat as a model state through development work”.

Tactically though, the BJP blamed the Congress for the PM’s harsh comments, linking them to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s observations in the past on Modi being a “maut ka saudagar”. Obviously, the saffron outfit hopes the PM’s comments would backfire on the grand old party like Sonia’s had in the 2007 Gujarat Assembly elections.

“The dirty tricks department of the Congress has carried out certain tricks against Narendra Modi. If dirty tricks department used such language, it was understandable. I am sure PM is not a party to dirty tricks department,” Jaitley said after the PM’s conference which he otherwise termed a “farce”.

Going all out against the PM and the UPA government he heads, the BJP attacked Manmohan Singh for not taking adequate steps to curb inflation, corruption and unemployment and termed his 10-year tenure a “wasted opportunity”. “He has been in the office without doing much speaks volumes of his ability as the PM,” Jaitley said. “With its failure to tackle corruption, mounting inflation and unemployment, the government has prepared a perfect recipe for disaster,” he added. “I think his mindspace on issues of corruption is reducing,” the leader observed on the PM’s response that he had not applied his mind to the complaints against Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh. The opposition also made the most of the PM’s repeated comments on historians judging his performance and that “time will tell”. Jaitley said in democracy it was not time but voters who tell.