Tharoor sings Modi's tune again, says he's leaving 'positive impression'

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with saying the right things and leaving a positive impression in whichever country he visits.

"In acknowledging a couple of positives, Prime Minister has now been to 24 countries, he is doing so well. Prime Minister says the right thing in whichever country he goes to and leaves a positive impression, that's something we should acknowledge," Tharoor said at the launch of 'Modi's World' book written by C Raja Mohan at the Oberoi Hotel here.

"Prime Minister has done something which I had actually in the past criticized Indian Governments for not doing enough of, which is to attempt to leverage our soft power rather than merely taking it for granted," he added.

The former union minister further stressed that the Prime Minister's Yoga Day initiative, which was an attempt to get India some international benefits out of one of its cultural attributes, deserved praise.

"Yoga day, an attempt to get India some sort of international benefits out of one of its cultural attributes, should be praised. Though I think the Prime Minister slightly blotted his copy book by rather tacky effort to get into Guinness book, was not worthy of a Government," he further said.

Tharoor, who had also accepted the Prime Minister's invitation to join the Clean India campaign, had in May termed the social security schemes launched by the latter as a good initiative.