BJP jabs Rahul after he takes dig at Modi govt while congratulating Banerjee

The BJP on Monday attacked Rahul Gandhi and wondered if he will ever learn to be "graceful" after the Congress leader hit out at the Modi government's economic policies while congratulating economist Abhijit Banerjee for winning Nobel prize.

Soon after Indian-American Banerjee won the coveted honour, Gandhi noted that the economist had helped conceptualise Nyay, a minimum income guarantee scheme that was the most prominent campaign promise of the Congress for the recent general elections, and then the opposition leader took a dig at the government.

"Abhijit helped conceptualise NYAY that had the power to destroy poverty and boost the Indian economy. Instead we now have Modinomics, that's destroying the economy and boosting poverty," Gandhi tweeted while congratulating him.

BJP's IT department in-charge Amit Malviya was quick to hit back, noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Banerjee "without any ifs and buts despite knowing that he has been a critic".

"Here is PM Modi congratulating Abhijit Banerjee without any ifs and buts despite knowing that he has been a critic. And Rahul Gandhi is not only politicizing Abhijit's Nobel prize, but also using it to attack PM Modi. I know it is tough but will Rahul ever learn to be graceful?" he tweeted.

Malviya posted a screenshot of congratulatory messages by both Modi and Gandhi to make his point.

Modi had earlier tweeted, "Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.