“Childish” Rahul is taking PM’s name to stay in the news: Venkaiah

Bengaluru, Sep 20: Hitting out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his “suit boot” remarks against Narendra Modi, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Nadu on Sunday termed it “childish and immature” and accused him of taking the name of the Prime Minister to remain in the news.

Mr. Naidu also sought to turn the tables against Mr. Gandhi, saying his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru and father Rajiv Gandhi too had used the “suit boot” attire.

‘You forget something’

“....now he [Rahul] is also talking about suit boot [suit boot ki sarkar], forgetting his great-grandfather used to wear suit boot, forgetting his father used to wear suit boot. Are you criticising your great-grandfather and father? Are you ridiculing them?” the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs asked.

‘Cheap comments’

Attacking the Congress leader for his suit-boot jibe made at an election rally in Bihar, Mr. Naidu said: “Please think before you speak, there should be some maturity in what you speak. Don’t be childish and immature. Making such cheap comments against the Prime Minister of the country — that too on a personal dress....”

Pointing out that the suit presented to the Prime Minister was auctioned and the money was used for public purpose, he said: “...I don’t know who is writing his script, who is writing the speech, but they are misleading him.”

‘Beware NDA’

Launching the Congress campaign in assembly poll-bound Bihar, Mr. Gandhi had on Saturday raked up the “suit boot ki sarkar” jibe to target the Modi government, warning people that they would lose their land and livelihood if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in the State.

Painting Mr. Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA as a ‘club of rich’, he had said: “While the Mahatma shed his suit and donned a dhoti as he led the poor farmers, Mr. Modi, who claimed to have started as a chaiwala [tea-seller], started wearing Rs. 15-lakh suit after becoming Prime Minister.”

‘No need to focus on Rahul’

When a reporter persisted with the issue, Mr. Naidu said: “....we need not focus on him. He is trying to take the name of the Prime Minister, so that he is in the news...”

Slamming the Congress, he said it was still unable to reconcile with the reality and continuing its ‘disinformation’ campaign against the government.

“Words for the poor and deeds for the rich had been policy of the Congress over the years,” he added.

Schemes on the anvil

Referring to the various social security schemes launched by the Centre, Mr. Naidu said it would unveil Mudra Yojana — credit for the ordinary small traders, street-vendors and unemployed youth on September 25.

Stating that Mr. Gandhi and the Congress were saying that they won’t allow even an inch of land to be acquired, he said: “I would like to know what is the scale of the inch for Mr. Rahul Gandhi?”

Challenge to Congress

Accusing Congress governments of “forceful” acquisition of lakhs of acres of land, he challenged its leaders to explain as to how they allowed their governments to acquire and loot the land of farmers to the tune of nearly 80,000 acres in one State (Haryana).

He dared the Congress and its leaders holding a rally on Sunday on the land bill to explain on this “if they have guts.”

Lalit Modi saga

Mr. Naidu also said allegations made against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had boomeranged on the Congress and its leaders as they could not answer in Parliament as to why they allowed Lalit Modi to flee the country.

”....every allegation they are making is boomeranging on them. This spit and run practice is not going to help Congress party,” he said.

Sounding confident of party’s victory in Bihar polls, Mr. Naidu said “On the one hand, Congress leader says we should not protect convicted, corrupt people while on the other hand you have aligned with RJD.”

“A combination of ‘Cs’”

“There is a great combination in Bihar, where all the ‘Cs’ have come together. The Casteist, the Corrupt, the Communal, the Convicted — all of them have joined together, this is their grand alliance. They are going to be rejected by the people,” he added.

Responding to a question on the West Bengal government releasing files related to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Naidu said “The State government should have talked to the Centre also, but anyhow they have done it.

“I don’t want to make any comment. It should not be politicised. Everybody in the country is interested to know the truth about what happened to Netaji — including me,” he added.

“What will be its implications on the international arena. That is under study of the government of India,” he said.