Soldiers are dying in Kashmir, but BJP is just doing 'pakoda' politics: Shiv Sena's dig at Narendra Modi govt

Shiv Sena on Thursday slammed the Narendra Modi govt over what it called 'pakoda' politics.

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New Delhi: BJP's estranged NDA ally Shiv Sena on Thursday took a dig at the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and said that the present dispensation should focus more on core issues, rather than just doing politics over 'pakoda'.

Giving a piece of advice to the ruling BJP, Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut said, "In Jammu and Kashmir, soldiers are being killed on a daily basis, even hospital are being attacked. But we talk about fritters (pakoda) here.''

Cautioning the Narendra Modi government, Raut said that ''if we don't take these issues seriously, very soon everyone will start frying 'pakoda' in Delhi.''

Raut made these remarks days after senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram took pot shots at the Narendra Modi government over its tall claims on job creation and said that the present dispensation is completely ''clueless'' on the issue. 

The former finance minister took to Twitter to express his resentment, saying that the nation has seen a three-year spell of "modest, but jobless growth" and that the government is "clueless about how to create jobs".

Attacking the Modi regime through a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, ''The NDA government's wild claims of creating 70 lakh new jobs in 2017-18 has been punctured now. 

Taking a dig at PM Modi, Chidambaram said that he should understand that there is a marked difference between job and self-employment as the former is "regular and reasonably secure".

The veteran Congress leader was referring to PM Modi's interview on January 19 where he had said, ''If a person sells 'pakodas' and takes home Rs 200 every evening, is that not employment?"

In a firm rebuttal to the PM's contention, Chidambaram tweeted, ''Even selling pakodas is a 'job' said PM. By that logic, even begging is a job. Let's count poor or disabled persons who are forced to beg for a living as 'employed' people."    

However, Chidambaram's attack on the PM did not go well with the ruling BJP.

The Congress has insulted "poor Indians", the BJP said in response to P Chidambaram's jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying selling 'pakodas' should be considered employment.

"Prime Minister Modi respects poor people who work hard to earn their livelihood. Congress and P Chidambaram making fun of them," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said returning the barb.

He further said the Congress only treated poor people as a "voting bloc", and claimed that the BJP was focussed on generating employment for them. 

Raut was referring to the recent attack on Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar.

The attack took place when the policemen were escorting a Pakistani prisoner Naveed to the hospital.

The terrorists and the prisoner, however, managed to flee the spot. 

(With ANI inputs)