Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha drew flak for a tweet on Monday as BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wondered that Sinha was the presidential candidate of the opposition parties against Droupadi Murmu. “Congress wanted him to become President of India! Imagine,” the BJP spokesperson tweeted sharing the screenshot of Yashwant Sinha’s tweet in which Sinha wrote: “I plan to contest my next Lok Sabha election from Papua New Guinea on a Modi ticket which I hope he will give.”
The comment comes as PM Modi was in Papua New Guinea on his maiden visit to host a key summit between India and 14 island countries. The visit witnessed historical moments with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape welcoming PM Modi and touching his feet on his arrival. Papua New Guinea generally does not accord a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after the sunset but an exception was made for PM Modi.
Papua New Guinea conferred the Companion of the Order of Logohu which very few non-residents of the nation received so far. The award was for championing the cause of unity of Pacific Island countries and spearheading the cause of the Global South.
Marape addressed PM Modi as the leader of Global South. “We are victims of global powerplay… You (PM Modi) are the leader of Global South. We will rally behind your (India) leadership at global forums,” said Marape.
Speaking at the forum, PM Modi said for him the Pacific island nations are “large ocean countries and not small island states”.
