Days after Narendra Modi accused former PM Rajiv Gandhi of being corrupt, Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel hit back at the prime minister saying he has lost his ‘mental balance’. The statement came hours after PM Narendra Modi challenged the Congress to contest the remaining two phases of the Lok Sabha elections in the name of Bofors scam and Rajiv Gandhi. Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh on May 4, PM Modi had said, “Your father was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari No 1’ (corrupt number 1).”
A day later, Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit back at PM Modi over the allegations against his late father with a tweet, “Modi Ji, The battle is over. Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you. All my love and a huge hug. Rahul”
Rahul’s sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi also slammed PM Modi’s remark calling it an “insult to the martyrdom” of the former PM Rajiv Gandhi. Taking to Twitter, she said, “The prime minister who seeks votes in the name of martyrs insulted the martyrdom of a righteous and holy man.” Also hitting out at PM Modi, former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram pointed out that PM has “crossed all limits of decency” with this comment.
While reminding the PM Modi of Delhi High Court order, he said, “Does Mr Modi read anything at all? Does he know that charge against Rajiv Gandhi was thrown out by the Delhi High Court, as completely baseless? Does Mr Modi know that a BJP government decided not to file an appeal to the SC against the HC judgment?”
The Congress has time and again attacked Modi-led NDA government of reworking the Rafale deal at a much higher price than the previous UPA government and also that it awarded Rs. 30,000-crore offset contract to businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, rather than government-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited.