Rahul's '15 minute dare' triggers BJP-Cong slufgest in Ktk

The '15 minute dare' gauntlet thrown by Rahul Gandhi at Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set off a protracted slugfest between the BJP and the Congress in Karnataka.

A day after Modi took a swipe at Gandhi at an election rally, challenging him to "to speak in any language" for 15 minutes about the achievements of the Siddaramaiah government without referring to a piece of paper, the chief minister hit back with a vengeance.

"I challenge you to speak about the achievements of B S Yeddyurappa"s Govt in Karnataka for 15 minutes by looking at a paper," Siddaramaiah said in an indignant riposte to the prime minister on Twitter.

Modi was responding to Rahul Gandhi's dare to him to allow him to speak for 15 minutes in Parliament on various issues, including corruption, and that the prime minister will not be able to sit for 15 minutes.

Siddaramaiah also rebutted the prime minister's claim that the Karnataka government was "indifferent" to farm distress and not implementing the crop insurance scheme effectively.

"Sir, Govt of Karnataka paid 50% of the cost of the PM Fasal Beema Yojana. Ours is the only Govt in the country that has deployed IT to directly pay the insurance amount into farmers" account. Also crop insurance is old UPA scheme," he said in another tweet.

"I keep getting complaints regarding Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from Karnataka. The Karnataka government is indifferent...it does not care about the benefits that a farmer can get from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana," Modi told BJP Kisan Morcha workers during an interaction through the 'Narendra Modi' app earlier today.