CONG CALLS MEET DISAPPOINTING , NAIDU DESCRIBES OPPN AS JEALOUS

NEWDELHI: The Congress on Tuesday dubbed the outcome of PM Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump as “disappointing”, drawing sharp reactions from I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu who retorted that the Opposition party was jealous of its own “lost opportunities” in diplomacy.

“This is borne out of sheer jealousy and guilt as Prime Minister’s every foreign visit holds mirror to the lost opportunities during the ten years of UPA rule,” said Naidu. Slamming the UPAera foreign policy as “lacklustre”, he said, “The growing status of the PM as a global leader and the rising status of India is not digestible to Congress given their lacklustre foreign policy.”

Congress spokesperson and former Union minister Manish Tewari on Tuesday maintained that during the meeting there was “no mention of the H1B visas”, an irritant in Indo-US relations. “There was divergence on the issue of terror. The perception of the US with regard to Islamist terror is very different from the concerns of India about cross-border terrorism. Trump named North Korea in his remarks, but he did not mention Pakistan,” said Tewari.

The senior Congress leader also took a dig at the NDA government for showcasing Modi’s visit to the White House as significant development. “Modi is the 40th head of state or government to get an audience with Trump in the White House . Even those of Montenegro and Egypt beat him to it,” the Congress spokesperson said .

“Nothing has come out of the visit. The joint statement is disappointing,” Tewari said. Adding that President Trump has only “appreciated” the order of an Indian airline to buy 100 airplanes from Boeing which would help in creating jobs in the United States.

SLAMMING THE UPAERA FOREIGN POLICY AS LACKLUSTRE, NAIDU SAID PM’S GROWING STATURE WAS NOT DIGESTIBLE TO CONG