New Delhi, July 20 : Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he indeed could not see eye to eye with the Congress leadership as he was not a "naamdar" (from a privileged background) like the Congress chief.
He said that there was long list of people who tried to see eye to eye with the "first family" and were "humiliated" as a result, including former President Pranab Mukherjee.
"He (Rahul) says I cannot see eye to eye with him. Yes, I cannot do so because I am not a naamdar. I come from a poor background, I am not privileged like you," Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition.
"It is widely known what happened to those who tried to see eye to eye with you. What happened to Chadhary Charan Singh, to Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujaral. What happened to Sharad Pawar and even to Pranab Mukherjee?
"In the past too, those who tried to see eye to eye with you their fate was no different be it Sardar Patel or Subhash Chandra Bose. They were all thrown out, they were humiliated. I cannot see eye to eye with you," Modi said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that Modi could not see eye to eye with him (for his alleged failure to fulfil his promises made to the public).
"And it was seen by the people what your eyes said today," Modi said, blinking his fingers to portray Gandhi's winking gesture.
At the end of his around 40-minute speech, Gandhi walked across to the treasury benches and hugged Modi who was surprised. Gandhi then returned to his seat amid applause from Congress MPs, and then winked at fellow Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia who was sitting next to him.
Modi said that the Congress was so power hungry that it had pulled the rug off the feet of any non-Congress government whenever any attempt to form such a government was made.
"What did the Congress do with governments of Charan Singh, of Chandra Shekhar and of I.K. Gujral? It pushed the country into phases of instability again and again for greed of power (by pulling out support from coalition governments)," he said.
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Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): A local MP/MLA court on Saturday rejected a plea seeking a voice sample of Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by a BJP functionary against the Congress leader, and posted the matter for next hearing on May 11.
The plea, filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra through his counsel Santosh Kumar Pandey, had sought Gandhi's voice sample for a forensic test to compare it with an audio clip.
After the petition was dismissed, Pandey said they would file a revision plea before the sessions court against the order.
The court rejected the plea after hearing the arguments of both sides, including Gandhi's counsel Kashi Prasad Shukla.
The matter dates back to 2018 when Mishra, a local BJP leader, filed a defamation suit over Gandhi’s alleged objectionable remarks targeting Amit Shah while campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections.
After five years of legal proceedings, the court issued a warrant against Gandhi in December 2023.
The Rae Bareli MP surrendered before the court in February 2024, and was granted bail on two sureties of Rs 25,000 each by a special magistrate.
On July 26 last year, the Congress leader recorded his statement before the court, claiming innocence and calling the case a political conspiracy.
Earlier this year, multiple hearings were postponed due to a strike by lawyers and the ill-health of Gandhi’s counsel.
