‘Look Who’s Talking’, Says BJP After Rahul’s ‘Murder Accused’ Jibe
‘Gandhi is out on bail in Herald case, whereas our party President, has been cleared by court’, said Sitharaman.
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
In his keynote address at the Congress’ Plenary meet, party President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, 18 March, said the Bharatiya Janata Party “could accept a person accused of murder as president” as opposed to the Congress, which could “never accept” such a thing.
Gandhi’s fiery remarks drew instant criticism from Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman, who questioned the Congress president’s “criminal record” in the National Herald case. Defending Shah, Sitharaman said “it was the Congress that had framed the BJP national president” who’s now been “cleared by a court”.
Assailing the prime minister over the PNB fraud, Rahul had Gandhi said,"Nirav Modi who carried out India's biggest theft has the same as our prime minister. It is an interesting fact. The most corrupt man in cricket also shares the same name as our prime minister. So what does Modi actually mean? What does Modi actually mean? The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the prime minister of India”.
To this Sitharaman retorted asking if sharing a name was enough to bring about corruption charges on PM Narendra Modi, who, she claimed has been untouched by graft charges.
She further questioned Rahul, “who shares the name of the father of the nation , and yet is out on bail”.
Towards the beginning of his speech, Rahul had compared the Congress to the Pandavas, who had fought for the people. But the BJP, he claimed, was like the Kauravas, who he maintains always fought for power.
To this, Sitharaman said that the Congress, “which brought in emergency and Sikh Riots” and had even “questioned the existence of Ram, the Hindu deity”, had no locus standi to compare itself with the Pandavas.
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