NEW DELHI: PM
Narendra Modi joined the “fitness challenge” on Thursday, accepting a dare by India cricket captain
Virat Kohli to put up a video of his workout but the move provoked
Congress chief
Rahul Gandhi to ask whether Modi will pick up the gauntlet to reduce fuel prices.
“Challenge accepted, Virat. I will be sharing my own #FitnessChallenge video soon,” tweeted the PM in response to the Twitter challenge from Kohli.
Modi’s tweet was echoed by a host of celebrities and sports personalities across the social media platform as they responded to the hashtag HumFitTohIndiaFit. Modi’s acceptance of the fitness challenge had crossed over 45,000 likes by Thursday evening, and seen over 11,000 retweets.
But political sparring soon broke out with Rahul asking the PM if he would accept the challenge of reducing fuel prices. He warned Congress would launch a stir if the prices were not slashed.“Dear PM, glad to see you accept Virat Kohli’s fitness challenge. Here’s one from me: reduce fuel prices or Congress will do a nationwide agitation and force you to do so. I look forward to your response,” Gandhi tweeted with the hashtag “Fuel Challenge”.
Government sources responded, saying, “Taking into account the health profile and the lifestyle, especially of the youth in urban areas, the government is keen to encourage more physical activities. Portrayal of such a gesture in poor light by certain quarters in regrettable.”
The challenge was started a few days ago by sports minister
Rajyavardhan Rathore, who put up a video of himself doing push-ups and challenged Virat Kohli, Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and shuttler Sania Nehwal to share their work outs. A day later, Kohli posted a video of his work out and tagged the PM.
Rathore, who in his work out video had credited the PM for inspiring him to come up with the Twitter challenge, was thrilled with the enthusiastic response to his fitness challenge and called Modi’s acceptance of the fitness challenge as “super sporting”.
