Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders lashed out at Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday for attacking party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a news conference in New Delhi.
Attacking Modi, Chidambaram had said on Monday said that he wished he could have contested polls against him from Varanasi, but was constrained by his lack of knowledge of Hindi.
He had further said that Modi's brand of liberalism is crony capitalism.
BJP condemned the remark and said the statement reflects his envy and resentment against the leader.
"It is better that he re-looks at himself and so far as this is concerned that he would have fought from Varanasi, I assume that he knows Tamil. Why has he not chosen to contest from Tamil Nadu or if he is so good in English he should contest in Washington or London," said BJP leader, Meenakshi Lekhi.
Meanwhile, party leader Subramanian Swamy said the Finance Minister's statement was humiliating.
"Who is Chidambaram to judge about the facility to speak Hindi? He does not know one word, he is completely dependent on English, which nobody understands in north India and certainly they will not like to see him in a public meet. What about Sonia Gandhi's Hindi? It is not our culture to make fun so we do not make fun of her Hindi. It is the most laughable Hindi she speaks. Her accent is so bad that people do not understand half the thing she says, so ask him to first improve Sonia Gandhi's Hindi before showing the jealousy for Narendra Modi," said Swamy.
Congress is yet to declare a candidate from the Varanasi, although many leaders have expressed their willingness to contest from there.
Chidambaram is not contesting elections this time and has vacated the seat for his son, Karti P. Chidambaram.
In the news conference on Monday, he refuted BJP's criticism of the economy, and said the Indian economy was now stable and the fundamentals had been strengthened.
Admitting that employment was higher during BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, he said unemployment declined during Congress party-led UPA (United progressive Alliance) government's tenure.
