Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah yesterday took a jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi accusing him of speaking on the lines of Pakistan and asked the opposition leader whether he was trying to forge an international alliance in the name of “Modi Hatao (remove Modi).”
“Rahul Gandhi says ‘Modi Hatao. Pakistan says ‘Modi Hatao’. Now Pakistan also supports Rahul Gandhi’s baseless allegations against PM Modi. Is the Congress forming an international mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) against PM Modi,” Shah asked in a tweet.
Shah’s remarks came amid a political war with Gandhi terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “thief” and “corrupt” in the Rafale deal and the BJP hitting back that the Gandhi family was out on bail and was the “source of all corruption in the country”.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier accused Gandhi of playing into the hands of Pakistan.
Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala was quick to react on Shah’s attack, saying pseudo-nationalism was the BJP’s old ploy.
“Amit Shahji, faced with charges of rampant corruption and crony capitalism, pseudo-nationalism is ur old ploy. Did you and PM form a mahagathbandhan with Pak and ISI when – 1 Modiji went uninvited to Pak and Pathankot Attack happened; 2 You invited the ISI to Pathankot and praised Pakistan,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Modi to call a special session of parliament to discuss the Rafale deal. His Aam Aadmi Party and also demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the deal.
Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai also posed questions to Modi while addressing a press conference.
He asked why the price of Rafale fighter jet had “gone up” and “why the secret clause has been added to the contract now”.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal, in a tweet in Hindi, sought to know from the prime minister who “pocketed the money from the Rafale scam - the BJP or someone else”.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the Rafale issue was “proving to be a first-rate scam” which the Modi government was “desperately trying to cover up”.
“The statement of the former French president has exposed the claims made by Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the government had no role in it,” the party said.
“A Joint Parliamentary Committee must be formed without delay so that the role of the prime minister and the government is inquired into,” the party added.
Shah: slams Gandhi
