As per Congress Party, India has had only 4 prime ministers, Nehru, Indira, Rajeev and Manmohan

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) As Prime Minister Manmohan named his predecessors in his independence day speech, BJP questioned why Lal Bahadur Shastri, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Morarji Desai were missed out.

"Dr Manmohan Singh referred to four Prime Ministers who contributed to the making of India - all from Cong party," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj said in a tweet.

"He forgot even Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri there," the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

"The contribution of Shri Morarji Desai and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been no less. This partisan approach does not go with the solemnity of this great occasion," she said.

Party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman spoke similarly.

"Surprised the Prime Minister skips mention of his immediate predecessor Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee while recalling most PMs before him," Sitharaman said on Twitter.

Manmohan Singh, in his independence day speech recounted the achievements of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narsimha Rao.

As per the Congress party, the list of Prime ministers of India is as follows:

1.J L Nehru,2. blank ,3. blank ,4. blank ,5. Indira Gandhi,6. blank , 7.blank ,8.Indira Gandhi,9. Rajeev Gandhi,10.blank ,11.blank ,12.blank ,13.blank ,14.blank,15.blank ,16.blank ,17. Manmohan Singh.

Since Sonia Gandhi is the prompter, one cannot blame Manmohan Singh, the parrot.

This time the prompter made a willful mistake by including one of the blanks, P V Narsimha Rao, because of the ongoing Telengana imbroglio.

Or probably because Manmohan was the Finance Minister when Narsimha Rao was the Prime Minister - gratitude?

For those who would like the names of the different blanked out Prime Ministers 12 in all, the list is below.

2. Gulzarilal Nanda.

3. Lal Bahadur Shastri

4. Gulzarilal Nanda

6. Morarji Desai

7. Charan Singh

10. V P Singh

11. Chandra Sekhar

12. P V Narsimha Rao

13. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

14. H D Dev Gowda

15. I K Gujral

16. Atal Behari Vajpayee

By the way, Manmohan knows he is a stepney prime minister, keeping the throne warm while Prince Rahul grows of age and is willing to take over.