Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling his interview with news agency PTI as “hollow words” while he “ran away” from speaking in Parliament.
O’Brien, TMC leader in the Rajya Sabha, also took a dig at the Prime Minister, calling him a “teleprompter tycoon”.
“Another example of the empty words of Prime Minister Modi, also known as a teleprompter tycoon, who is reluctant to speak in Parliament,” O’Brien told PTI, reacting to the interview.
In an unprecedented development, the Lok Sabha passed the motion of thanks without the Prime Minister’s customary reply despite continuous sloganeering by opposition members during the recently concluded Budget session.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla later said that he had “concrete information” that several Congress members may move towards Prime Minister Modi’s seat and take “any unexpected action”, as a result of which he had requested him not to come to the House to reply to the discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address.
Modi replied during the debate on the motion of thanks in the Rajya Sabha, during which the opposition parties walked out of the House. The Prime Minister on Sunday described the latest Budget and several global trade agreements signed by his government as the foundation of a developed India and urged the private sector to come forward now “more aggressively” and “boldly”.
In a detailed interview to PTI, Modi strongly criticized the UPA government for failing to secure important trade agreements and asserted that women will play the “most important role” in a developed India.
He said political stability and predictability have restored investor confidence in India and strong manufacturing, services and small and medium enterprises have enabled it to enter into free trade agreements with 38 countries from a “strong position”.
