Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi creates stir by praising Modi, later retracts

Senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi stirred a controversy on Wednesday by appearing to be gushing in his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interview which he later claimed quoted him out of context.

Dwivedi, party General Secretary, was quoted by a web portal as saying that Modi has started a "new era."

"Modi has been successful in convincing people that from a social point of view, he is closest to Indian citizens. His is a victory of Indianness", Dwivedi was quoted in the interview as saying. He was sharing his view from the premise of Indian voters as they see Modi, the portal said.

However, Dwivedi later told reporters that what he had said in an "objective" analysis was that the election results of 2014 was not the victory of Modi or BJP but defeat of Congress. He said that Modi and BJP succeeded in projecting that they were closer to Indian people and presented their victory as that of Indianness. "The voters felt like that".

He said that what he had said in the interview was that BJP's victory has ushered in a new time which has brought forth a very big challenge before Congress and there is no scope for any misunderstanding over the issue.

As the interview created speculation over his future course of action, Dwivedi made it clear "people like him do not change their thought and loyalties. If such a time comes, I will keep away from partisan politics. It is just unthinkable that I will do something else".