Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday called Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi the "biggest red flag" for the Congress party and challenged him to answer 10 questions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the election process and allegations of vote theft.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Goyal accused Gandhi of repeatedly leading the Congress to electoral defeats and questioned the party's criticism of election authorities. He challenged the Congress leader to respond to his 10 questions.
"I challenge Rahul Gandhi to answer these 10 questions. Several people consider Rahul Gandhi the biggest red flag because of whom the Congress is losing again and again. Youth calls bad omen, a red flag. Rahul Gandhi is the biggest red flag for Congress," he said.
Goyal also alleged that Gandhi and his colleagues misbehaved with a woman journalist who was three months pregnant while she was covering their protest.
"Rahul Gandhi and his colleagues misbehaved with a woman journalist who is 3 months pregnant. She was only covering their protest. I don't think the 140 crore people of the country or any journalist would ever forgive this," he said.
The Union minister further claimed that Congress leaders had expressed support for the SIR process, citing remarks attributed to party leaders and politicians from other parties.
Referring to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Goyal said the party had won in Kerala because the removal of duplicate and deceased voters' names through SIR helped prevent electoral malpractice.
He also cited remarks by Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in support of the exercise.
He added that Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had praised the Election Commission for conducting the West Bengal elections fairly and impartially, while opposing actions by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"Now their own party is making baseless and false vote-theft claims, and aligning with Mamata Banerjee whom they used to oppose, turning it into a recurring political drama," Goyal said.
His remarks came a day after INDIA bloc leaders and supporters, led by Rahul Gandhi, marched along Barakhamba Road towards the Supreme Court. Subsequently, 11 opposition leaders filed a petition in the apex court challenging the Election Commission's decisions concerning the SIR of electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Registry flagged 14 defects in the writ petition filed by Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and nine other INDIA bloc leaders challenging aspects of the Election Commission of India's ongoing SIR exercise.