Congress leaders take jibes at Narendra Modi's invite to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif; term it as hypocrisy

Prime minister elect Narendra Modi's invite to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received flack from many leaders of the opposition, some even calling the move hypocritical.

In March 2013, when the UPA government invited the then Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf BJP president Rajnath Singh had said "Our soldiers were killed by Pakistani forces. And, instead of registering strong protest, what is our government doing? ...Our external affairs minister is hosting lunch for him and he is being served biriyani".

Today when this move by Narendra Modi is being seen by some as a positive step with respect to Indo-Pak relations, major leaders of the opposition have criticised this move questioning that if Rahul Gandhi had done the same had he been prime minister, he would be labelled as a soft prime minister unable of taking firm decisions and bowing down to foreign pressure.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar jumped in to defend the party's move and told  ANI, "Atalji had said you can choose your friends but you can't choose your neighbours,Modiji is following just that."

Here are senior leaders of the opposition who have voiced their opinion regarding the matter:

At the same time I can't help wonder what BJP would have said if a PM designate Rahul Gandhi had done the same thing.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) May 21, 2014

If Nawaz Sharif does accept the invitation, let's hope @narendramodi will serve him chicken biriyani!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 21, 2014

Many have also criticised the BJP for being hypocritical:

BJP earlier criticized us saying no relations with Pakistan till our soldiers are killed on border,what is Modi doing now?-Meem Afzal,Cong

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 22, 2014

If UPA had done this(inviting Nawaz Sharif) BJP would have protested,but still,its a good step for peace in the region-Tariq Anwar,NCP

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 22, 2014