PM Narendra Modi PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress for its declining fortunes, saying it were schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) that has done the party in.

Modi said he will never scrap the scheme since it shows what the Congress has not done in so many years. "Why would I scrap MNREGA? I want that scheme to remain so that the world could see what India has done after so many years," he said as Congress president Sonia Gandhi sat in the audience.

"After 60 years, people are being paid to dig the ground," Modi said, saying he has enough political instinct to know that the scheme represents the declining fortunes of the Congress. Modi also joined Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu in taunting the Congress over a series of defeats the party has received in the recent elections.

What had Naidu said about Rahul?

The Congress led by an aggressive Sonia had almost stalled the presentation of Railway Budget on Thursday after it demanded that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu apologise for his remarks on party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Naidu had taken an apparent dig at Rahul's leave to introspect, saying if the Congress can't do it here, it should "go somewhere far" to do it. "My comments were misinterpreted. I respect all members from all political parties," Naidu later said.

Addressing Parliament after days of protest and disruptions over the controversial land ordinance, Modi however acknowledged the contribution of previous governments in India's development. "I said this from the ramparts of the Red Fort. This country would not have been here without the work done by previous prime ministers," Modi said as he presented the vote of thanks to President Pranab Mukherjee's address that inaugurated the Budget session of Parliament.

Why problems matter more than policy names: Modi

In his speech on Friday, PM Modi said the real issue is the problems that his "government has inherited" and not the names of various policies aimed at eliminating them. Responding to the opposition Congress's charge that the NDA government is only changing the names of the UPA policies, Modi said, "I have heard it said that previous projects have been picked up and their names have been changed. The issue is important. The names of the projects are not important. The problems have been the same."

On his pet Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Modi said, "When I speak of the Swachhta Abhiyaan, I keep in mind the poor who fall sick due to dirty or unhygienic surroundings. Cleanliness is a major issue, it is about our mindset. It's our responsibility to ensure cleanliness."

"We have forced nation to talk about black money"

Modi said the government had "compelled" the nation to talk about black money.

"We have compelled the nation to talk about black money. This is a big thing," said Modi.

"Our first decision in our first cabinet meeting was the decision on (forming) SIT on black money," he said.

Modi said corruption had "ruined the nation" and the issue should not be discussed through political prism.

