'Make in India was Cong idea'

Lucknow: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma on Sunday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'biggest event manager' and added that 'Make in India' is originally a Congress concept that is being used as a means to promote 'brand Modi'. Speaking to reporters at UPCC office, Anand Sharma, who is deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha also asked PM Modi to shed the clothes of a "pracharak" and "paryatak" and start wearing clothes of a PM."The PM is a sapno ka saudagar (seller of dreams) and time has come for jawabdehi (accountability) and not jashna (celebrations)," said Sharma, adding that Make in India is originally a Congress idea involving elements of Invest India, e-biz, Industrial Corridor and National Manufacturing Policy. "Only the logo (of Make in India) has been designed under the Bharatiya Janata Party, rest was thought, planned and designed by us," the former Union minister said.
Sharma said the BJP is still not through with the hangover of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll win. Replying to a question on party leadership in UP (where assembly elections are likely to be held in 2017), the senior Congress leader said, "We have seen ups and downs in our careers but we see the party emerging victorious in 2017 assembly elections." He added that in run-up to assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has already started flaring communal passion in different parts of the state at the behest of RSS.