Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks against his father and late fromer prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying that if he (Modi) wants to talk about him, he should do that as much as he wants, but he should also speak about the Rafale deal and job promises to the youth of the country.
"If you want to talk about Rajiv Gandhi ji and me, do it as much as you want. But also tell people what you did in the Rafale deal and speak about your promise of 2 crore jobs to the youth of the country," Gandhi said while addressing a rally in Haryana Sirsa.
#WATCH: Rahul Gandhi says in Haryana's Sirsa "Agar aapko Rajiv Gandhi ji aur meri baat karni hai aap zaroor kijiye, dil khol ke kijiye. Magar janta ko samjha dijiye ki aapne Rafale maamle mein kya kiya kya nahi kiy...jo vaada kiya tha 2 cr yuvaon ko rozgar ka wo poora nahi kiya" pic.twitter.com/Ui1dSrqvYs
— ANI (@ANI) May 9, 2019
The Congress president was referring to PM Modi's continues bashing of Rajiv Gandhi. Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh on May 4, Modi had invoked Rajiv Gandhi to attack Congress president Rahul Gandhi and termed him "corrupt number 1."
"Your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'bhrashtachari number 1," Modi had said. The remarks were followed up by severe criticsm by leader across the party line. Even a BJP leader and former Union minister, Srinivasa Prasad, refused to believe in PM Modi's allegations against Rajiv Gandhi.
"He (Rajiv Gandhi) did not die due to corruption allegations. Nobody believes that, even I don't believe it. I have a lot of respect for Modi ji, but it was not necessary for him to speak against Rajiv Gandhi," Prasad said.
However, the prime minister didn't stop invoking the name of Rajiv Gandhi to attack the Congress party. At a rally in Delhi's historic Ramlila Ground on Wednesday, Modi accused the late prime minister of using Navy's INS Virat for holidaying.
"Even Navy personnel were put on service of Rajiv Gandhi and his family while they were vacationing at the island. INS Virat was also stationed at the island for 10 days during that time," Modi alleged.