NEW DELHI: Congress Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that he “sought refuge in lies” while addressing the Rajya Sabha.After PM Modi address, the Congress leader took to X and said, “Just so much panic from a few questions? Modi ji, so scared of the truth, sought refuge in lies.””Well, did what seemed right,” he added.In his much-anticipated speech in Rajya Sabha, PM Modi targeted the UPA regime and claimed that a significant part of the NDA regime, which has been in power for over a decade now, has gone in “correcting the mistakes of the past”.As PM Modi started his speech, loud sloganeering of “Let the LoP speak” and “tanashashi nahi chalegi (dictatorship will not be tolerated) by the opposition MPs. The opposition also staged a walkout shortly after the speech began.During his nearly 100-minute speech, PM Modi took many Gandhi family and accused them of ‘stealing’ Mahatma Gandhi’s surname.”For some people, stealing is a family profession. What’s shocking is that those habitual thieves have also stolen surname of a Gujarati, Mahatma Gandhi,” PM Modi said.Further taking a “start up” dig at the Congress party, and and its leadership Rahul Gandhi, the prime minister alleged that the party “cannot even lift their own startup.””Congress never promoted startup culture… They cannot even lift the startup of their own house,” PM Modi said.He also targeted Rahul for calling BJP MP Ravneet Singh Bittu a traitor and accused the Congress leader of insulting the Sikhs.”What happened yesterday — the ‘Yuvraj’ of Congress, who has a ‘shaatir dimaag’ called a member of this House a traitor. His arrogance is at its peak. He did not call others who left Congress traitors, but he said it to this MP because he is a Sikh,” Prime Minister Modi said in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Rajya Sabha.Rahul Gandhi had on Wednesday exchanged barbs with former party colleague and Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu in Parliament premises. In videos released by the Congress, Gandhi was heard calling Bittu “a traitor” and the minister retorting with “desh ke dushman” (enemy of the nation) jibe.
