Is that how sports are to be encouraged: Nirmala slams Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India's World Cup Final loss to Australia and said that Wayanad MP is continuing the Congress tradition of calling all abusive names for the PM. Is that how sport is going to be encouraged? Rahul Gandhi while addressing a rally in Barmer claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in the Narendra Modi stadium is the reason behind India's World Cup final loss.

Nirmala Sitharaman said "It is such a poor comment, games are played. Matches are won and lost. He is continuing the congress tradition. Is he not? He is actually continuing his party's tradition of calling abuses names for the prime minister. Is that how sports are to be encouraged? This is another classic example."

Rahul Gandhi said "Our guys were playing well, they would have won the World Cup. But 'Panauti' made us lose. The TV guys won't tell you this but people know," Rahul said while campaigning at Rajasthan's Barmer on Monday. BJP Lok Sabha MP, Ravi Shankar Prasad also questioned the usage of such a word for the Prime Minister and asked Wayanad MP to apologise.

"What happened to you, Rahul Gandhi? You are using such words for the Prime Minister of the country. Our Prime Minister met the players and motivated them. Winning or losing is part of the game. Rahul Gandhi needs to apologise," Prasad said. Asking Rahul Gandhi to learn from the past, Prasad said, "You need to learn from the past. Your mother (Sonia Gandhi) used the word 'Maut ka saudagar' (dealer of deaths) for Narendra Modi and see where is the Congress now."

Meanwhile, in reaction to Rahul Gandhi's statement blaming PM Modi for India's World Cup Final loss to Australia, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that such reference shows signs of "desperation" and "mental instability".

"There's more than irony or hypocrisy at work here - that a 55yr 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 #LostDecade, wud refer like this to our PM is a sign of desperation and mental instability," Chandrasekhar said in a post on 'X' on Tuesday.

Chandrasekhar said that the reason for such a derogatory reference is because PM Modi is a "nightmare" for Congress crooks, India's enemies and terrorists.

"The reason is that PM @narendramodiji is a nightmare for the Crooks of Congress, for enemies of India and Terrorists," he added. The BJP won 163 seats in the 2013 Legislative Assembly elections and formed the government in Rajasthan. In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress won 99 seats, while the BJP won 73 seats in the 200-member House.