Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 7 (ANI): After the US administration doubled the tariff imposition on goods from India to 50 per cent, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'prioritising headline management over real diplomacy and national interest.'

Praising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for criticising various decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government, Siddaramaiah said that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) has been proven right on each account.

'Be it GST, demonetisation, Chinese aggression, the Modani nexus, or COVID failures, farm laws, Rafale, PM CARES, and electoral bonds -- Rahul Gandhi called them out early. The BJP mocked him. But he was proven right, again and again. His warning on US President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariff is no different. It is economic blackmail -- the result of PM Narendra Modi prioritising headline management over real diplomacy and national interest,' the Karnataka CM posted on X.

Siddaramaiah accused the Prime Minister of trying to please Trump and said that the US President saw these efforts as 'surrender, not diplomacy'.

'Since 2019, PM Modi has gone out of his way to please Trump -- from the optics of Howdy Modi (where 'Abki Baar Trump Sarkar' was raised) to hosting Namaste 'Doland' Trump during a looming COVID threat, to coining 'MAGA + MIGA = MEGA'. He even courted Elon Musk, knowing his ties to Trump. But Trump wasn't impressed. He saw it not as diplomacy -- but surrender,' he added.

Taking a swipe, Siddaramaiah criticised PM Modi for not 'pushing back' against Trump's claims of 'ceasefire' and hosting Pakistan Army Chief in Washington.

'He (Trump) did exactly what a true friend wouldn't: He claimed 33 times (and counting) that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan. He hosted Pakistan's Army Chief, the man whose hate speeches led to the Pahalgam Terror Attack. He backed Israel's brutal assault on Gaza, and PM Modi stayed silent, just to remain in Washington's good books. Through all this -- No protest. No pushback. No dignity,' he asserted.

Labelling Trump's announcement to impose 50 per cent tariffs on goods from India as 'coercion,' Siddaramaiah said that it was an attack on the country's sovereignty.

'Now, Trump hits India with unfair tariffs. Worse, he's coercing us to cut ties with Russia -- a direct attack on our sovereignty. No foreign power can dictate our trade choices. This is the cost of running foreign policy like a personal PR campaign,' he said.

'Ignoring the Leader of the Opposition's prescient warnings has cost the nation enough. It's time for the Modi Government to grow up -- and act in India's interest,' he added. (ANI)