"Thank You Mr Jaishankar": Rahul’s tweet is a searing attack on Modi

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi "thanked" Foreign Minister S Jaishankar in a tweet that served mostly as a back-handed jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Trump Sarkar" comment and the controversy over what many perceive as interference in US politics against India's policy.

"Thank you Mr Jaishankar for covering up our PM's incompetence. His fawning endorsement caused serious problems with the Democrats for India. I hope it gets ironed out with your intervention. While you're at it, do teach him a little bit about diplomacy," the Congress MP wrote in his acerbic post.

The Congress has accused PM Modi of flouting India's long-held policy of not interfering in another nation's politics by using the term "Ab ki baar Trump sarkar" with US President Donald Trump - who will seek re-election next year -- by his side at the "Howdy, Modi!" event in the US last week.

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, at an interaction with journalists in the US, said the PM had made the comment only to refer to what Donald Trump had used during his presidential campaign.

"I think, please, look very carefully at what the Prime Minister said. My recollection of what the Prime Minister said was that candidate Trump had used this ("Ab ki baar Trump sarkar"). So PM is talking about the past. I don't think we should, honestly, misinterpret what was said. I don't think you're doing a good service to anybody," Mr Jaishankar said.

"We have a very non-partisan (approach to domestics US politics)," Mr Jaishankar said.

In his introduction for President Trump before an audience of 50,000 at Houston on September 22, PM Modi had said, "Friends, we in India have connected well with President Trump, the words of candidate Trump. Ab ki baar Trump sarkar rang loud and clear..."

The phrase, first used by Trump during his presidential campaign, borrows from the BJP's wildly successful "Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar" slogan during the 2014 national election.