Rahul Gandhi Gets EC Notice Over ‘Panauti’, ‘Pickpocket’ Jibes At PM Modi – News18

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a notice to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his ‘panauti’ and ‘pickpocket’ remarks at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The panel has asked the Congress leader to respond by November 25.

Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Balotra on Tuesday, referred to India’s loss to Australia in the Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday with PM Modi in the stands.  “PM means Panauti Modi,” he said,  insinuating that PM Modi brings bad luck.

“Modi comes on TV and says ‘Hindu-Muslim’ and sometimes goes to a cricket match… Our boys would have won the World Cup but the panauti (bad omen) lost us the match, Gandhi said.

BJP slammed the Congress MP over his comments and demanded an apology.

BJP demanded an apology from him for his “shameful and disgraceful” utterances.

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said his comments are a sign of desperation and mental instability. “There is more than irony or hypocrisy at work here – that a 55 years old who has never worked a day in his life, whose family has exploited the country like parasites for decades with their corruption and whose govt destroyed the country economically in the lost decade,” he said. The reason is that Modi is a nightmare “for the crooks of the Congress, for enemies of India and terrorists”, he said.