New Delhi: Defending Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who drew flak from BJP over his ‘panauti’ (unlucky) remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party leader Rashid Alvi said there is nothing wrong in the comment as PM Modi himself had referred to his luck when the price of crude oil dropped in 2014.
Addressing a rally in poll-bound Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi, taking a jibe at PM Modi, said PM stands for “panauti Modi”. He said the presence of PM Modi in Ahmedabad stadium brought bad luck for the Indian cricket team which lost the final World Cup match against Australia.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said, “As far as Rahul Gandhi’s remarks are concerned, he called the PM ‘panauti’. ‘Panauti’ means someone who brings bad luck. It means unlucky. When Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and the price of crude oil had dropped, then he himself had referred to his luck. He had said that it was due to his good luck that the crude oil price crashed.”
“He called himself lucky when the crude oil price dropped. And now when the BJP is losing the elections and if someone says PM Modi’s bad luck is responsible for the poll outcome, then what is wrong in that? He was lucky back then but now he is unlucky,” Alvi further said.
It is to be noted that the Election Commission of Indian issued a show cause notice to Rahul Gandhi over his “panauti”, “pickpocket” and "loan waiver" remarks against PM Modi at a Barmer rally. He has been asked to appear before the poll panel in this regard on November 25.
The ECI also said the remarks of Gandhi were in violation of the Model Code of Conduct, which prohibits a leader from making unverified allegations against his or her political rivals in a poll-bound state.
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