Narendra Modi regrets BJP's failure to impact food bill: Report

, Aug 30: Gujarat Chief Minister

is reportedly upset with the BJP not being able to leave an imprint on the

that was passed in the Lok Sabha earlier this week after a prolonged debate and voting, an

said on Friday.

Modi, who was in the national capital to attend a dinner hosted by party president Rajnath Singh for BJP parliamentarians and parliamentary board members, said to have expressed his regret during interacting with the party MPs.

According to the report, Modi rued the fact that the Congress-led UPA government went ahead with the bill even governments led by the BJP did better on such schemes.

A case in hand is the Raman Singh government of Chhattisgarh, which has earned accolades for similar food security measures.

Sources in the BJP, however, said that Modi's reaction was more of a regret than a criticism of top leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi, who had initiated the discussion on the bill. Swaraj had said after the bill's passage that it was half-baked and the BJP would take up the deficiencies when it returns to power.

Modi has been vocal against the bill and even wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month stressing the loopholes in the bill and requested him to call a chief ministers' meeting to address them. The effort did not bear any fruit and all the amendments moved by the BJP were defeated during the voting.

OneIndia News