National interest should be priority in talks with US president Barack Obama, says Congress

INDORE: Welcoming US president Barack Obama, who arrived in New Delhi today on his three-day visit to India, the Congress today said country's interest should be given preeminence and the foreign policy of non-alignment should be kept intact during the bilateral talks.

"We welcome President Obama. During the US President's visit and the bilateral talks, India's interests should be kept on the top of the agenda and the non-alignment foreign policy should be kept intact," Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar told reporters at Press Club here.

Babbar, who was in city for civic polls electioneering, said the previous Congress government at the Centre had always remained firm on foreign policy of non-alignment.

To a query, he said that BJP had opposed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal during the UPA-1 government and was so averse to it that it made efforts to topple the regime.

"But our intention was clear," he added. When asked whether the time has come to pass on the Congress baton to Gandhi scion Rahul or Priyanka from party President Sonia Gandhi, the actor-turned-politician said it might be the opinion of some people and that the Gandhi family was competent to take a call on the issue.

About Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', he said that taking a cue from Mahatma Gandhi's principles, Modi has made the drive a good 'event'.

"People have become tired of the BJP's false promises," he said.

Meanwhile, taking a jibe at State chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's statement of today that he would turn Indore into one of the best cities of the world in next five years, Babbar said, "Thank God he didn't say he will turn Indore into Sanghai."