New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS): Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur has slammed Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav for the kind of language used by him on the visit of the Prime Minister to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi.

Thakur said Akhilesh and his party are shocked to see the magnificence of Kashi and that is why he is speaking ill of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Thakur, who is also Uttar Pradesh poll in-charge, said that he was sitting with SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav in the parliament on Monday as he is a senior MP and at the same time Akhilesh Yadav was making such remarks. "This shows his mindset," Thakur said.

On Monday, Akhilesh was quoted as saying: "People spend their last days in Varanasi. This is very good. He (PM) can stay there not just for one month, but for two or even three months. That is a place to stay. People spend their final days in Banaras."

Terming Akhilesh's remark as unfortunate, Thakur said, the statement was unbecoming from a former chief minister of UP.

The Minister said the work which the Prime Minister has done with 'sankalp se siddhi' (attainment through resolve), can't be done by the SP or the BSP.

On NC chief Farooq Abdullah's remark that the country needs a strong Prime Minister, Thakur said India has a powerful Prime Minister, under whose leadership Article 370 was scrapped, Pakistan was taught a lesson by conducting surgical strikes, record number of terrorists were neutralised and infiltration attempts were foiled.

On people advocating talks with Pakistan, the Union Minister said that India has taken tough decisions in the past and will continue to do so in future as well.