Rahul Gandhi has lost credibility by peddling lies against PM Modi: Nirmala Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying he has lost his credibility after he expressed regret in Supreme Court over his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi while referring to top court’s order in the Rafale jet deal.

The Supreme Court had asked Gandhi to respond on his remarks made last week wherein had attributed his ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ remarks to the top court. The Congress president today accepted that the "court never said these words."

Sitharaman said that Gandhi has accepted his fault to avoid ‘contempt of court’.

"It was done to escape the wrath of the court...I would definitely say that it is a matter of credibility which is affected badly when people in public life are pushed to the circumstances to have to regret having said something based on untruth," she said.

She also slammed Congress leader P Chidambaram's statement that India must change its behaviour towards Pakistan and asked the party to clear its stand on the issue.

She questioned if the Congress wants the Government of India "to stop taking action against terrorists", "compromise" country's territory and accept that Jammu and Kashmir is a "disputed" territory".

After his party's manifesto that was "pummelled for being friendly and kind" towards the terrorists, the statement by Chidambaram has further "worsened" the Congress' position, Sitharaman said at a press conference at BJP headquarters.

"I would like to ask the Congress party what is the behavioural change that they are asking for...Do they want us to draw a moral parity between the perpetrators of terror and violence, and its victims, or do they want us to start negotiating even as terror continues. So what are those changes in the position India has to undertake as expected by the Congress," she said.

With PTI Inputs