Smriti Irani hits back at Rahul Gandhi for tweet on Jay Shah

NEW DELHI: Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday hit back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his comments referring to a court barring a news portal from publishing articles on a company owned by Amit Shah's son, saying a person "out on bail" was "mocking" the courts.

The information and broadcasting minister also said the Congress leader's attempts would not help his party win the Gujarat assembly polls and wished Rahul Gandhi on the occasion of the Gujarati New Year.

"A person out on bail mocks the courts. Lage raho Bhai Gujarat phir bhi haroge (keep trying brother, still you will lose in Gujarat) Saal Mubarak (Best wishes for New Year)," she said in a tweet, referring to the Congress vice-president being on bail in the National Herald case.

Earlier, apparently targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, Rahul Gandhi had fired a fresh salvo over the controversy surrounding Amit Shah's son Jay Shah's company.

"Mitron (friends), will not speak about 'Shah-zada', nor will let anyone speak," he had tweeted in Hindi, referring to an interim injunction granted by an Ahmedabad court on a criminal defamation plea filed against news portal 'The Wire' by Jay Shah.

He had also tagged a news report -- "Ahmedabad Court injunction: 'The Wire' barred from writing on Jay Shah" -- along with his tweet.

Jay Shah had recently filed a criminal defamation case against 'The Wire' after it published an article claiming that the turnover of a company run by him saw a huge rise after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.

An Ahmedabad court had, on Monday, restrained the portal from publishing or broadcasting reports based on the article published by it regarding Jay Shah's firm.

Both the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have repeatedly questioned Modi's "silence" on the issue.