Jairam Ramesh Jairam Ramesh

Barely a fortnight after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the development-centric approach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that he had evolved into "Modi 2.0", it seems Congress has another Modi fan in former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.

In an interview, Ramesh said he believes PM Modi has the potential of emerging as 'India's Richard Nixon' in handling Pakistan and China because he enjoys the "flexibility" that his Congress predecessor lacked.

"Modi in many ways is like Nixon who opened China to America. Modi could become India's Nixon when it comes to China or Pakistan," Ramesh said.

However, Ramesh rued that while Modi's attempts to smoothen India-Pakistan relations were praised, the UPA's government's similar efforts were criticised.

"If we had invited Nawaz Sharif we would have been criticised for feeding him biryani. But there is exchange of saris and shawls (now)."

Ramesh added, "Had Dr Manmohan Singh done something pragmatic, BJP would have pounced on him. But if Modi does something pragmatic, we are not in a position to pounce on him."

Early this month, in an article, Shashi Tharoor had written that for a dozen years the Congress party had good reasons to criticise Modi very severely for the 2002 riots. But the way he has conducted himself after the election and spoken from the moment of his victory he "has been amazingly gracious and accommodative" of even those who had not voted for him, Tharoor wrote.

Tharoor was all praise for the language and tone used by Modi and so he thought it would be churlish not to acknowledge it. "We should acknowledge that this may the evolution of Modi 2.0 but if Modi 1.0 reemerges, then we will robustly oppose him," he said.

While Congress quickly distanced itself from Tharoor's comments, senior party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar slammed Tharoor for his effusive praise of PM Modi, calling his party colleague "immature" and a "chameleon". Aiyar also said he was "deeply disappointed" that an "intelligent" man like Tharoor should want to rush to judgement in this manner and come out with this effusive remarks.

"This kind of chameleon like praising just after a few days (after Modi coming to power) is uncalled for. It demonstrates great immaturity," Aiyar said.