Modi government has no team, it's two-person regime: Yashwant

Ahmedabad, Sep 4: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha said Tuesday that unlike in the Vajpayee era, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government is a "two-person" affair.

Sinha, who handled finance and external affairs portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, was speaking to the media after meeting Patidar leader Hardik Patel here.

"The biggest difference is there was a team during my time. A team worked together. Today, there is no such team," Sinha said, when asked about the work culture of the Vajpayee government and that of the Modi-led dispensation.

"If at all there is a team, it consists of only two persons," Sinha said, in an apparent reference to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. The 79-year-old leader, who recently resigned as the member of the BJP, has often lambasted the Modi government in the recent years. Commenting on soaring fuel prices, Sinha alleged that the Centre was least concerned about people.

"In the past, the burden of hike in crude prices was distributed among oil companies, government and common people. Now the entire burden has been put on people," he said. Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who accompanied the senior leader as they met Hardik, also took potshots at Modi.

Asked if Modi's "development model" could fail to charm people in 2019 elections, the actor-turned-politician said, "That model has already failed. There is no time left now. They (the Modi-led government) will not get any bonus time."

Earlier, Yashwant Sinha extended support to Hardik, who has been on a hunger strike for farm loan waiver and reservations in jobs and education for the Patidar community since August 25.

PTI