Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi/Abu Dhabi, Aug 17: Congress party on Monday August 17 hit out at Prime minister Narendra Modi for criticising the previous UPA government over slowdown of economy in India and said that the PM should not talk politics during overseas tour.

Modi who is on a 2-day visit to UAE said that that the previous government was responsible for the slowdown of economy in India. This was not the first time Modi had criticized the UPA government on foreign soil.

Anand Sharma, former commerce minister and senior Congress leader launched a sharp attack on Modi and said, "The Prime Minister must maintain the dignity of his office when he is in foreign tour, he should not criticise us outsde the country. He is playing politics in foreign soil too. He acts as BJP leader than Prime Minister of the country," said an angry Sharma.

Other Congress leaders too expressed disappointment at the PM's statement.

"Prime Minister should have maintained dignity of the high office he holds. There is no problem if he targets previous governments when he is in the country. But he should have refrained from doing so on foreign soil," party spokesman Meem Afzal said, adding that the vast growth in the trade turnover with UAE from 160 million dollars to 60 billion dollars was mainly due to the efforts by the earlier governments, including those of the UPA.

Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha tweeted, "It is abominable that PM Modi continues his pathetic lowbrow jibes at opposition party when abroad. A huge embarrassment."

Modi was interacting with the business community in Abu Dhabi when he made the statement. On Monday, Modi is due to visit Dubai where he will be meeting Dubai ruler Shiekh Mohammed and later he will address about 50,000 Indian citizens at Dubai cricket ground.

Modi will return to India at 9 pm by a special Air India flight.