 "Congress terms Jaitley a 'court jester' after FM calls Rahul 'clown prince'")
Returning Arun Jaitley's jibe of calling Congress President Rahul Gandhi a "clown prince", the Congress on Thursday dubbed the Finance Minister a "court jester" who is "desperate to stay relevant".
Amid the relentless trading of charges between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Rafale deal, Jaitley on the day took to social media to accuse Gandhi of "concocting lies" on the deal for the France made fighter jets and the bad loans of banks.
He said the Congress leader was "polluting" public discourse.
Hitting back, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, in a tweet, called the BJP leader a "court jester" and demanded answers on the Rs 410 billion Rafale "scam".
"And yes 'Jait-LIE' ji (sic), the desperate quest to stay relevant of a 'court jester' by wasteful blogs continues.
"Please reply: Why hide behind abuse when trapped in Rafale maze? Why supersede HAL for Rs 30,000 crore contract? Why no answer on Rs 410 billion loss in Rafale Scam," said Surjewala in his response to Jaitley's tweets.
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The Congress has been gunning for the Narendra Modi-led government over the Rafale deal. Besides approaching Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi for a special and forensic audit and demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal, the party has also sought the resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the issue.
The Modi-led government and the BJP have been dismissive of all the charges by the Congress.