Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday accused Rahul Gandhi of being a "troll" after he sought to link him with the Adani row, and asked the Congress leader to answer three questions posed to him instead of levelling "unfounded" allegation and diverting people's attention from main issues.
"It is clear that you are now limited to being a troll," Scindia, once a confidant of Gandhi, said in response to the Congress leader's swipe on Saturday on leaders who have quit his party in recent years as he kept up his offensive against the government over the Adani issue.
"They hide the truth, that's why they mislead every day! The question remains the same - whose Rs 20,000 crore Benami money is in Adani's companies?" Gandhi asked in a tweet in Hindi and attached an image with the names of the leaders with that of Adani. He cited the names of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Scindia, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kiran Kumar Reddy, and Anil K Antony in his tweet.
Hitting back, Scindia asked why does not Gandhi apologize for his "derogatory" comments about backward classes. Instead, he says he is not Veer Savarkar and will not apologise. "Insult of a patriot and so much arrogance," the BJP leader said.
"The Congress has always pointed fingers at courts and why are you now putting pressure on them for your selfish interests," he asked.
"Why should the rules be different for you? Do you consider yourself a first-class citizen? You are so consumed by arrogance that appreciating even the importance of these questions is beyond your understanding," Scindia said, targeting Gandhi.
Other leaders mentioned in Gandhi's tweet have also attacked him, with Sarma saying that he will file a defamation case against the Congress leader.