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Updated: Feb 04, 2019 22:47 IST

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday hit back at Rahul Gandhi, saying he did not need a certificate of courage from the Congress president after the latter had described him as the only person in BJP with guts over a comment on “domestic responsibilities”.

Rahul Gandhi’s remarks had come in response to Gadkari’s address to former workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of RSS, to fulfil their domestic responsibilities before working for the party or the country and that those who cannot do deliver at home, “cannot manage the country”.

Gadkari Ji, compliments! You are the only one in the BJP with some guts. Please also comment on:



1. The #RafaleScam & Anil Ambani

2. Farmers’ Distress

3. Destruction of Institutionshttps://t.co/x8BDj1Zloa — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 4, 2019

Gadkari said Rahul Gandhi was relying on “twisted” media reports to attack the Narendra Modi government, which he said would come back to power again after the Lok Sabha elections and work with full strength to take the country forward.

“Rahulji I don’t need a certificate of courage from you, but I am surprised that as president of a national Party, you are referring to twisted reports filed by the media to attack our government,” he said in a series of tweets in Hindi.

“This is the strength Modi and our government that you have to take the support of others’ shoulders,” he said.

@RahulGandhi जी, मेरी हिम्मत के लिए मुझे आप के सर्टिफिकेट की जरूरत नही है लेकिन आश्चर्य इस बात का है की एक राष्ट्रीय पार्टी के अध्यक्ष होने बाद भी हमारी सरकार पर हमला करने के लिए आपको मीडिया द्वारा ट्विस्ट किए गए खबरों का सहारा लेना पड़ रहा है। — Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 4, 2019

In another tweet, Gadkari sought to respond to the Congress president’s request to speak up on three topics that he wanted the minister to speak about — the Rafale scam and Anil Ambani, farmers’ distress and destruction of institutions.

“On the issues you have raised, I would like to say that our government has made the Rafale deal keeping the country’s interests in front. Modiji’s honest policies have been to bring farmers out of the crisis that your (Congress’s) policies had put them in.

“You are not able to bear that Modi has become the Prime Minister, so you are getting dreams of intolerance and attacking of constitutional institutions,” Gadkari said, hoping that Rahul Gandhi would behave with rationality and responsibility in the future.

Oops, Gadkari Ji.



Huge apology. I forgot the most important one....



JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! https://t.co/SfOLiCUoyg — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 4, 2019

In another tweet, which came after Gadkari’s response to his first, Rahul Gandhi asked the minister to speak up on the issue of jobs generation too. This time, Rahul, in a jab, issued a “huge apology” for having forgotten the most important issue.

Earlier, the BJP had attacked Rahul Gandhi after the Congress president extended his support to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s unprecedented protest over the showdown between the CBI and Kolkata Police, referring to his speech from 2016 when he had attacked the Bengal chief minister.