NewDelhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took a dig at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and addressed him as ‘Jaitlie’.
Taking to Twitter, he ‘thanked’ the FM for “reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means.”
The official account of the office of Rahul also posted a video of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during an election rally in Gujarat. Alongside it, the handle posted the clarification made by the senior BJP leader in Parliament.
The government said in the Parliament on Wednesday that PM Modi has never questioned Manmohan Singh’s integrity, ending a deadlock that had paralysed the House for nearly two weeks.
“The statement (by PM Modi) did not question nor did he mean to question the commitment of Manmohan Singh or Hamid Ansari, the former vice president. Any such perception is completely erroneous. We hold these leaders in high esteem and their commitment to the nation,” Jaitley, who is Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, had said.
On its part, the Congress party said it does not approve of any remarks made against the PM, apparently in a reference to the ‘neech‘ remark made by Mani Shankar Aiyar. The Congress had subsequently suspended Aiyar.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad read out from a prepared statement in which he distanced the Congress from Aiyar`s statement against PM Modi saying the Congress disapproves of any attempt to bring down the dignity of the Prime Minister`s Office.
The proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were repeatedly disrupted over the past two weeks over remarks by PM Modi during the Gujarat Assembly election campaign.
He had questioned his predecessor for attending a dinner with senior Pakistan officials at Aiyar’s residence.
The Congress had said that PM’s remarks implied that Singh and other public figures who attended the dinner were conspiring with Pakistan and demanded an apology from the PM.
Singh too had issued a statement saying, “I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister.”
He had added that he sincerely hoped that PM Modi will show “maturity and gravitas”, as expected of the high office he holds.
Bureau Report
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