Rahul Gandhi's speech devoid of substance, rhetoric of loser, says Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for his speech at the 84th Congress Plenary Session, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed Congress president's address as the "rhetoric of a loser". She also questioned Rahul Gandhi's Pandava-Kaurava analogy, and accused the Congress of mocking Hindu rituals. "Rahul Gandhi's speech sounds like the rhetoric of loser devoid of substance." "A party which questioned the fundamental existence of Shree Ram today wants to be identified with the 'pandavas'. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals," she said. "I have never heard of a  Congress' priest and a  BJP' priest, but Rahul Gandhi has narrated a whole story on that, just a way to mock Hindus and Hinduism," she said. Earlier in the day, Rahul had narrated a story about his meeting and conversation with priests during his visit to a temple. Sitharaman also said that the Congress was responsible for anti-Sikh riots 1984, and accused the party of corruption. "This is a party which had to be thrown out of power because they were involved in Rs 12 lakh crore corruption," she said. Sitharaman also called Rahul's remarks "a light-hearted comment that goes abysmally low in making a mockery". Slamming Rahul's for his comments on recent loss suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, she said: "Let us not miss the point... Congress (candidates) lost their deposits in these places." She also slammed Rahul for "murder accused" jibe at BJP president Amit Shah. "It is astonishing that Congress President chooses to name BJP President Amit Shah and referred to him as a murder accused while he has been cleared by a Court. This is a fake and false motivated campaign by someone who is out on bail on a criminal conspiracy of fraud in National Herald case," she said. Rahul, while addressing the Congress's plenary session on Sunday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not fighting corruption but was "corruption himself" and under him, the country is controlled by "corrupt and powerful". He added that the corrupt and powerful today "control conversation" in the country and the "name Modi symbolises the collusion between crony capitalists and the prime minister". Gandhi also equated the BJP and RSS with the "Kauravas" of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, saying they were designed to "fight for power".