Jaitley: Rahul Gandhi 'grandson of Emergency Dictator'

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday hit back at Rahul Gandhi describing the latter as the “grandson of the Emergency dictator.”

This comes after the Congress president criticised a journalist for conducting a “staged” interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The grandson of the Emergency dictator displays his real DNA— attacks and intimidates an independent editor,” Jaitley said while referring to Rahul's remarks on the interview given by the prime minister to video news agency ANI.

“Why are the pseudo liberals silent? Waiting for the Editors Guild’s response,” Jaitley said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Rahul had remarked that that Modi's New Year's Day interview was staged and conducted by a pliable journalist.

“He (Modi) does not have the guts to come and sit in front of you. And I am coming here, you can ask me any question. You saw the prime minister's interview... Matlab pliable journalist, she was asking questions and was even giving answers,” the Congress president said.

Rahul had also referred to the interview during the short-duration discussion he had initiated on the Rafale deal in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

“The nation is asking why the prime minister can speak for one-and-a-half hour in a staged interview and not answer fundamental questions on Rafale,” he had said.

ANI Editor Smita Prakash called Rahul's comments a “cheap shot”.

“Dear Mr Rahul Gandhi, cheap shot at your press conference to attack me. I was asking questions not answering. You want to attack Mr Modi, go ahead but downright absurd to ridicule me. Not expected of a president of the oldest political party in the country,” Smita said on Twitter.