Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called Rahul Gandhi a ‘Clown Prince’ in a Facebook post. (Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
The war of words between Congress and the BJP over the Rafale deal turned ugly on Tuesday with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calling Rahul Gandhi a “Clown Prince”, to which the grand old party strongly replied naming the minister a “Babble Blogger” and dismissed his response to corruption charges as “hollow rants of a court jester”.
In a press release posted on Twitter, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala labelled Jaitley’s remarks as “desperation to stay relevant as a Court Jester to Modi Sultanate” and reiterated the party’s long-standing questions on Rafale deal and absconding economic offenders. He further said since Jaitley has “zero” answers for these questions, the latter resorts to cuss words as his only refuge.
“Hollow rants of a ‘Court Jester’ – ‘Mr Jait-Lie’ won’t change the truth that- You bang the truth to hide ineptitude, You bang the Rupee by your mismanagement, You bang exports by your incompetence, You bang the Economy by your incomprehension. India needs a FM, Not a ‘Babble Blogger’,” he tweeted.
India needs a Finance Minister, Not a ‘Babble Blogger’ Mr Jait-Lie !
Our statement: pic.twitter.com/ZtG4Ri1zs0
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) October 16, 2018
In a Facebook blog posted earlier in the day, Jaitley accused the Congress president of “concocting” falsehood over him meeting with fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, saying he had never even seen him in person, leave alone meeting him in Parliament and helping him escape from the country.
Calling Gandhi a “Clown Prince”, Jaitley said that he wondered if Gandhi has a personality issue where “he lies a dozen times and then in self-delusion believes it to be true or is it a case of a ‘Clown Prince’ out-clowning himself?”
“How does he (Gandhi) concoct this falsehood? At the Hindustan Times Summit, he referred to a meeting he had with me and attributed same statements to me. When asked I merely said that ‘I can’t answer hallucinations’. ‘I am in the distinguished company of President Macron. Today I feel it is much more than hallucinations. Is it a personality issue where he lies a dozen times and then in self-delusion believes it to be true or is it a case of a ‘Clown Prince’ out-clowning himself?” Jaitley said.
On allegations made by the Gandhi on Rafale, Jaitley said the aircraft and its weaponry is not being manufactured in India at all, neither by Dassault or by any other private company. All 36 aircraft and their weapons in a fully flyable and usable form will arrive in India, he said.
Responding to Jaitley’s allegations, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told PTI that it was unfortunate that the finance minister had time only to write blogs while the country’s economy was in “bad shape”.
He said the time will come when the country will render this government out of power for its ministers to have all the time to write blogs. He also said the government’s functioning was “funny”, where the finance minister talks about defence matters, the Railway minister about finance and the Law minister about other matters.
“There is absolute chaotic and absurd state of affairs in this government,” Tewari alleged, adding that “these people do not know how to govern”. “Therefore, the time has come for people to show the door to these people for them to write only blogs,” PTI quoted him as saying.
The Congress has been attacking the government over the Rafale deal and has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in corruption and favouritism. The allegations have been denied by the government.
(With PTI inputs)