BJP demands apology after Rahul Gandhi links World Cup loss to PM’s presence in stadium

Barmer: Soon after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by indirectly blaming him for India’s loss to Australia in the World Cup Final, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Ravi Shankar Prasad 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.”

Earlier, 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.

पनौती 😉 pic.twitter.com/kVTgt0ZCTs

— Congress (@INCIndia) November 21, 2023

“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.

The term of the 200-member Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan is scheduled to end on January 14, 2024. The last time Assembly elections were held in the state was in December 2018. Of the 200 assembly seats in the state, 199 will be contested on November 25.

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.