New Delhi, July 20 : Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he indeed could not see eye to eye with the Congress leadership as he was not a "naamdar" (from a privileged background) like the Congress chief.

He said that there was long list of people who tried to see eye to eye with the "first family" and were "humiliated" as a result, including former President Pranab Mukherjee.

"He (Rahul) says I cannot see eye to eye with him. Yes, I cannot do so because I am not a naamdar. I come from a poor background, I am not privileged like you," Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition.

"It is widely known what happened to those who tried to see eye to eye with you. What happened to Chadhary Charan Singh, to Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujaral. What happened to Sharad Pawar and even to Pranab Mukherjee?

"In the past too, those who tried to see eye to eye with you their fate was no different be it Sardar Patel or Subhash Chandra Bose. They were all thrown out, they were humiliated. I cannot see eye to eye with you," Modi said.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that Modi could not see eye to eye with him (for his alleged failure to fulfil his promises made to the public).

"And it was seen by the people what your eyes said today," Modi said, blinking his fingers to portray Gandhi's winking gesture.

At the end of his around 40-minute speech, Gandhi walked across to the treasury benches and hugged Modi who was surprised. Gandhi then returned to his seat amid applause from Congress MPs, and then winked at fellow Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia who was sitting next to him.

Modi said that the Congress was so power hungry that it had pulled the rug off the feet of any non-Congress government whenever any attempt to form such a government was made.

"What did the Congress do with governments of Charan Singh, of Chandra Shekhar and of I.K. Gujral? It pushed the country into phases of instability again and again for greed of power (by pulling out support from coalition governments)," he said.

 

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Berhampur (Odisha) (PTI): Two girls drowned while bathing in a village pond in Odisha's Ganjam district on Tuesday, police said.

The deceased were identified as Pranjali Dora (11), a class 6 student, and Manini Dora (12), a student of class 7, both residents of Patanda village in Digapahandi police station area, a police officer said.

After returning home from school, they went to the village pond to take a bath like every other day. However, they slipped and fell into deep waters. Locals noticed them drowning and tried to rescue them but failed, he said.

Fire brigade personnel from Digapahandi retrieved the girls after a two-hour search and they were rushed to a nearby community health centre, where doctors declared them dead, Digapahandi police station officer-in-charge Kishor Kumar Samal said.

He said the bodies have been handed over to the respective families after conducting post-mortem examinations at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.

He said unnatural death cases have been registered and an investigation launched.