PM Modi hits back at Congress:'Why drag my mother into election?'

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit back at Raj Babbar's statement comparing the value of sliding rupee to his mother's age and said "since Congress is unable to compete with him, it has "started to abuse his mother."
Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur, PM Modi condemned the remark and slammed the Congress for it.

"Congress party is not competent to fight against me so now they are abusing my mother. For last 18 years I have been challenging Congress and defeating them but today they have stooped so low that they are dragging my mother into the election debate," said PM Modi.

"If Congress thinks that abusing Modi's mother will help them save their 'deposit' then they should know that the people of Madhya Pradesh will give them a befitting reply," he added.

Raj Babbar had on Friday said that before becoming the PM, Modi had compared the value of the rupee to the age of the then PM Manmohan Singh.

"We wish to say now that the value of the rupee has fallen to the age of your respected mother," said Babbar while addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city.

The Prime Minister asked why the Congress was worried about Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan being called "mama" and has forgotten about their own "Mama Quattrocchi", referring to Ottavio Quattrocchi, the accused in the Bofors' scandal.

"They are worried Shivraj is called mama ... but don't remember their own Quattrocchi mama, whom his (Rahul Gandhi's) father had give the permit to steal the money allocated for the protection of India in the Bofors scam," said PM Modi.

In an apparent dig at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, PM Modi said 125 crore people of the country are the "high-command" of his government, which is "not remote-controlled by a madam".

Attacking Sonia, Modi alleged that "coffers of banks were emptied for the rich during the madam's government". "However, our government opened doors of the banks for the needy youth," he said.

He said the Congress was voted out of power in Madhya Pradesh 15 years ago because it indulged in politics of divisiveness.