New Delhi :
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday reacted strongly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against his father and late former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Launching a counter offensive against the prime minister, Rahul Gandhi said, "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."
The reacting from Congress president came a day after Modi, during a rally in Uttar Pradesh, invoked his father and late former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying that his father's life ended as "corrupt no. 1".
"Your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as ''Bhrashtachari No 1'' (corrupt number 1)," PM Modi said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh.
The prime minister was apparently refering to the infamous Bofors case that maligned the image of the Congress govenrment in 1980s. There were allegations against Rajiv Gandhi that he recieved bribe from Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors for the sale of its artillery guns to India.
However, the high court gave clean chit to Rajiv Gandhi and said that there was no evidence to prove that the Rajiv Gandhi accepted bribes in the Bofors deal. In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Sri Lanka based Tamil militant organization.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has been chasing the Narendra Modi govenrment over alleged irregularities and corruption in the Rs 60,000 crore Rafale fighter aircraft deal. The Congress chief claims that Modi increased the price of the Rafale jets to favour his businessman friend Anil Ambani bag the offset contract from the aircraft's French manufactures. Anil Ambani Relience Defence, which was floated just 10 days before the Rafale deal, is the India offset partner of Dassault Aviation, original makers of the air craft.
The Narendra Modi govenrment, on the other hand, claims that it was buying the fighter jets in a price lower than what was decided during the UPA govenrment. The BJP also maintained that PM Modi played no role in the deal between the Dassault Aviation and its India offset partner Relience Defence.
