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The Congress Party on Tuesday criticized Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for calling Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh 'politically impotent'. Describing the words used by Thackeray as appalling, Congress leader Jagdambika Pal said: "Saamna (Shiv Sena mouthpiece) has always been controversial, and what has been written today about the Prime Minister, is highly condemnable." Pal further said Bal Thackeray's magazine has not fully understood the article about the Prime Minister in TIME magazine. "I think if you really read it completely, then it says that UPA-1 had many achievements and can UPA 2 with the economic crisis all around do the same?" said Pal. "I feel the way the Prime Minister has started the fight against the economic crisis, we will certainly come out of it. I think if there is a roadblock in economic reforms in India , then it is the BJP and its ally the Shiv Sena," he added. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui commenting on Thackeray's comments against the Prime Minister said the language used by the former was deplorable, and added that it was the ruling Congress Party that is to be blamed more than Dr. Singh for the present economic paralysis. "If he will use such words for the Prime Minister of India, then he will lose whatever little followers he now has. Manmohan Singh can be called helpless, but using such words is not at all advisable. Manmohan Singh has a big hand in driving the country forward," said Siddiqui. "So, I feel Dr. Singh is not that weak, it is the Congress Party that is really weak and quiescent. The party cannot control its coalition partners and any decision which Dr. Singh wants to take is held back because of this," he added. Bal Thackeray earlier today termed the Prime Minister to be 'politically impotent' and called for a nationwide revolution. "In our (Thackeri bhasha) language, it implies the country's prime minister is 'politically impotent'," Thackeray said in an editorial in his party's mouthpiece Saamna. "Until now, the domestic media was rapping on his head, now even the international media is kicking him," he said, while throwing light on the Time magazine story. Thackeray has in his editorial argued that it was the right time now for the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to hand over the country to a person with a fighting spirit. The Time Magazine has also raised questions on Manmohan Singh's ability to act in the face of slowing growth, widespread charges of policy inaction and the unpopularity of business reforms. " India needs a robot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?" asked the weekly magazine. "The laws that could help create growth and jobs are stuck in parliament, sparking concerns that politicians have lost the plot in their focus on short-term populist measures that will win votes," said the magazine, while criticizing the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. " India is stalling. To turn it around, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must emerge from his private and political gloom," the magazine said, while calling the Prime Minister 'a man in shadow'.

Congress decries Thackeray for calling PM 'politically impotent'