"Cho Ramaswamy was insightful, frank & brilliant. Pained by his demise. Condolences to his family & countless readers of Thuglak," he said in a tweet.
"Cho Ramaswamy was a multidimensional personality, towering intellectual, great nationalist & fearless voice who was respected and admired," Modi added.
"Above all, Cho Ramaswamy was a dear friend. I have been to his annual readers meeting which were an unprecedented editor reader interface," he said.
"Yes, here I invite to address you, the merchant of death, the merchant of death to terrorism, the merchant of death to corruption, the merchant of death to nepotism, the merchant of death to official inefficiency, the merchant of death to bureaucratic negligence, the merchant of death to poverty and ignorance, the merchant of death to darkness," Cho says in the video of 'Readers Conference' hosted by him.
"returned the favour, but don't think I matched Cho's eloquence," Modi said in tweet accompanying the video.
Ramaswamy, a veteran journalist and former Rajya Sabha member, died in Chennai following illness.