Commenting on Rahul's remarks, a 'waste of time': Gowda

Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda Tuesday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on various issues, saying commenting on him was a "waste of time".

The minister for statistics and programme implementation also said Gandhi neither studied nor researched an issue before making a statement.

"Commenting about Rahul Gandhi is not fair; it is a waste of time because time and again he is doing the same thing," Gowda told reporters here.

"He is not studying things. He is not going in depth into any issue. He just spells out whatever comes to his mind and subsequently, he turns down (backtracks) from it," he said.

Gowda was responding to a question about reports that Gandhi was trying to backtrack on some of his allegations against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son Kartikey.

Kartikey Tuesday filed a criminal defamation suit against Gandhi in a Bhopal court, accusing the Congress leader of intentionally levelling a false allegation about his name being in the Panama Papers of alleged tax evaders.

Gandhi, who had made these comments during an election rally in Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, sought to clarify his remarks, saying he had got "confused" and the Madhya Pradesh chief minister's son had no link to the Panama Papers case.

The Congress chief had claimed that the name of the son of 'mamaji', a chief minister, had figured in the Panama Papers but no action was taken against him.

He did not specifically identify the chief minister, but was possibly referring to Chouhan because he is popularly known as 'mamaji'.

"On the one side, you have the watchman (apparently referring to Modi), on the other side you have 'mamaji'.The name of the son of 'mamaji' figured in the Panama Papers," Gandhi had said.

"The name of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif appears in the Panama Papers. In a country like Pakistan, he is jailed. Here the name of the son of a CM figures in the Panama Papers, but no action is taken," he had said.

On claims by BJP leaders about possible changes in the political scenario in Karnataka after the November 3 by-poll results for three Lok Sabha and two assembly segments, Gowda said, "Wait till the results are out on November 6."