Rahul hits back after PM’s ‘earthquake’ jibe

The RSS has gone to court against Rahul Gandhi. — File Photo

A few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the Congress vice-president with his ‘earthquake’ remark in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi posed several questions to him on Twitter.

“The Prime Minister mocks the tragedy of Uttarakhand and insults the freedom struggle but has no answers to the Opposition’s questions,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted, after addressing a joint rally with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Meerut.

“India is waiting for your answers, Modi ji,” he tweeted along with a picture of the questions.

He asked Mr. Modi if the government would tell the Opposition about the exact amount of black money recovered after November 8 when demonetisation was rolled out.

The other questions were: what was the economic loss to the nation and number of jobs lost; how many people died due to demonetisation; has the compensation been paid; who all did PM consult on demonetisation; why were experts, economists, RBI not consulted; who all deposited more than 25 lakh in bank accounts, in six months preceding November 8, 2016.

‘SP-Congress storm’

Days after Mr. Modi came up with the SCAM acronym to attack the SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati during a rally at Meerut, Mr. Akhilesh took a dig at him for the “hypocrisy of the BJP for allying with the BSP supremo thrice to get power.”

Addressing the rally with Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Akhilesh asked, “I wonder why Modi ji included Mayawati’s name in SCAM? After all their [BJP] relationship with her has been quite strong in the past. They made governments together thrice in the past.”

Referring to the Prime Minister’s speech in Aligarh about the oncoming BJP storm, the SP chief said, “Those who talk about storms must also know that if there is a storm it is that of the SP and Congress and that the storm will lead to government formation in Uttar Pradesh.” Both the leaders focussed on Meerut’s industry to appeal for votes.