New Delhi, May 1 (NIE): Union Minister of Coal and Railways Piyush Goyal on Tuesday mocked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and said that unlike him, he is a kaamdaar (worker) and not naamdaar (dynast). “Till May 26, 2014, before I became a minister, I was a professional Chartered Accountant and investment banker. Unlike you, Mr Rahul Gandhi, I have not learnt well the art of living without working. I am also a kaamdaar (worker) and not a naamdaar (dynast),” Goyal said.
His jibe at Rahul Gandhi came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi challenged the Congress president to speak for 15 minutes and list down the party’s achievements in Karnataka without referring to a paper. “For 15 minutes, without taking a paper in your hand, can you please talk about the achievements of your government in Karnataka? You can speak in any language as you please — English, Hindi or your mother tongue,” said PM Modi, while addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district, from where he kicked off the BJP’s campaign in the poll-bound state today.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had challenged PM Modi if he would be able to sit through 15 minutes of his speech in the Parliament. Responding to his challenge today, the Prime Minister said, “He is correct. There is no way ordinary people like me, who do not even dress well, can sit with such high and mighty people like the Congress President. We are Kaamdaars (those who work). What is our level that we can sit with people like the Congress president, who is Namdaar and look down on us.”
Meanwhile, the Congress president today demanded the resignation of Union minister Piyush Goyal after accusing him of being involved in the Rs 48 crore Flashnet scam, which he said is about “deceit, conflict of interest and greed”.
Gandhi, who attacked the railways minister on Twitter, also used a picture along with his tweet, alleging that Goyal sold his stock of Flashnet Info Solutions to Piramal group, which has interests in the power sector, at 1,000 times the face value. The Congress has been demanded the resignation of Goyal over the alleged scam and for “conflict of interest”.