Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday wondered why Congress President Rahul Gandhi gets disturbed when integrity issues of his late father Rajiv Gandhi-led government are raised and the 'Q' connection in the Bofors gun-deal is questioned.
In a series of tweets, Jaitley said that Rahul Gandhi thinks that "dynast" does not have to answer any question even though he can attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- a man of utmost integrity.
Responding to comments of Modi that Rajiv Gandhi's life ended as bhrashtachari No 1," Rahul Gandhi had tweeted: "Modi Ji, The battle is over. Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won't protect you. All my love and a huge hug…"
Jaitley in his tweet said: "Why is Rahul Gandhi so disturbed if the integrity issues of the Rajiv Gandhi government are raised? Why did Ottavio Quattrocchi get kickbacks in Bofors? Who was the ‘Q’ connection? No reply has come."
Modi, addressing a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, had targeted the former prime minister while attacking Rahul.
"Your father (Rajiv Gandhi) was termed Mr Clean by his courtiers, but his life ended as bhrashtachari No 1," Modi had said.
Jaitley said that even former prime minister Indira Gandhi was also assassinated and yet the Congress is questioned about the Emergency and the Operation Blue Star.
"The Dynast can attack the integrity of India’s Prime Minister – a man of utmost honesty. Does he believe that the dynasty does not have to answer any questions?" the Minister said.
The Bofors defence deal was believed to be one of the primary reasons for the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress's defeat in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls.
On former prime minister Manmohan Singh accusing the Modi government of leaving the economy in dire straits, Jaitley said, "When an economist turns into a politician, he loses sense of both economy and politics".
"Dr Manmohan Singh left behind in 2014 an economic slowdown, policy paralysis and corruption. He brought down his party to lowest ever strength in Parliament. India was a part of the fragile five. Today he regards the World’s the fastest growing major economy as disastrous," Jaitley said.
In an interview to PTI, Singh Sunday said India is headed for an economic slowdown and accused the Modi government of leaving the economy in dire straits due to its "lack of economic vision".
Singh also alleged that the lack of any vision or understanding of the country's dynamics of the economy by the Narendra Modi-led government has led to "disruptive" decisions like demonetisation.
Read | 'Karma awaits you': Rahul responds to PM Modi's 'bhrashtachari number 1' remark against Rajiv Gandhi
Read | Everything PM Modi said about Rajiv Gandhi was true: Prakash Javadekar
