New Delhi, July 19: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, while speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, launched a tirade against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, accusing it of practicing an "exclusive" model of governance which is benefitting the crony capitalists.

Targeting the NDA regime for its failure to crackdown on wilful defaulters and loan-fraud accused - who have looted public tenders to the tune of multi-thousand crores - Tharoor said he begs to raise the question of 'kiska saath, kiska vikaas (with whose support, for whose development?)?'

Tharoor's remark was a stinging counter to the ruling BJP's slogan of sabka saath, sabka vikas (collective efforts, inclusive growth).

Referring to the scandal involving diamantaire Nirav Modi, Tharoor said the accused "gleefully" got clicked in a photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and fled the nation days later after defrauding the Punjab National Bank of nearly Rs 13,800 crores.

Nirav Modi was part of the delegation of businessmen which posed for a photograph with PM Modi at Davos in January, where the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit 2018 was held. A week later, the CBI filed a case against the jeweller for "wilfully defaulting" on the loans taken from PNB. On attempts to arrest his, it was found that the accused did not return to India after leaving in the first week of January.

"I want to ask the government -- kiska saath, kiska vikas," Tharoor said, further taking a jibe at the Prime Minister's claim of being the "chowkidar" (watchman) of the nation. "The biggest economic offences took place “under the watch of the same people who had promised to be the watchmen," added Tharoor, who represents the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in the Lok Sabha.

The tirade by Tharoor comes days after he stoked a controversy by claiming that India would turn into a "Hindu Pakistan" if the BJP wins the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP top brass condemned his statements calling it "anti-Hindu", the party's yuva morcha workers in Thiruvananthapuram vandalised his office and issued a death threat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 19, 2018 04:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).