Sushil Kumar Modi hits out at Rahul Gandhi, asks if it was a crime to use Modi as one's surname.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced that he will file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged "all thieves have Modi in their surnames" comment.
"I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in Patna High Court within two days," said Sushil Kumar Modi.
The BJP leader claimed that Mr Gandhi has hurt the sentiments of crores of people who use "Modi" as their surname. The Deputy Chief Minister said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has referred to crores of people with ''Modi'' surname as ''chor'' and hurt their sentiments."
He asked if it was a crime to use Modi as one's title. "Is it a crime to have "Modi" as surname?" he asked.
Rahul Gandhi, during a public address in Maharashtra on Monday, asked how come all "thieves" have Modi as their common surname as he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi of corruption.
"But tell me one thing...Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as a common name. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common name?" the Congress chief had asked.
Earlier, BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi had requested the Supreme Court for criminal contempt action against Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comments welcoming the top court order in the Rafale case. In response, the Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Congress president.
The contempt petition accused Rahul Gandhi of misquoting the order when he said the top court had accepted that "chowkidar" (a reference to PM Narendra Modi), is a "chor (thief)".