His pride was talking: NCP on PM Modi's 'raincoat' barb

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday, in a strong worded attack, condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'raincoat' barb against his predecessor Manmohan Singh, saying it was his pride which was doing the talking.

NCP leader Tariq Anwar urged Prime Minister Modi to apologise to the nation and to the Parliament.

"Rahul Gandhi is right. This cannot be any Prime Minister's language. It wasn't Narendra Modi who was speaking, it was his pride. Everybody in the country is criticising him for his words," he said.

"Prime Minister Modi should apologise to the Mr. Manmohan Singh and to the Parliament," he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday provoked a walk out in the Rajya Sabha with his scathing attack on his predecessor and veteran economist Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Taking a dig at his squeaky clean record of 35 years of service as an economist, he accused the former prime minister of having a talent of 'bathing in raincoats', and getting away with the ugliest of scams.

"Dr. Manmohan Singh has played a significant role in the economic system of India. In the history of India it is rare to find a man who has had a such a long relationship with the economy of India, 35 years of 70 years of independence.", Prime Minister said in reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in Rajya Sabha today.

He further added that in 35 years of service, so many scams surfaced, yet it marked no stain on Dr. Manmohan as an economist.

"We leaders have so much to study as so much happened at the time, but there was not a single blot on him. This is a special skill Dr. Manmohan Singh excelled at and we should all learn this art of bathing in raincoat," he said.

The remark stirred an instant outrage, with leaders of Congress deciding to walk out amid the futile pleas of Speaker Hamid Ansari to maintain the decorum of the house.