Elections 2019 - Rahul Gandhi's "Dismantling The PM" Comment A Give-Away: Arun Jaitley

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's comment that he had "dismantled the Prime Minister" while speaking to NDTV was proof that "every dynast buys his own propaganda even if there are not too many others willing to accept it", Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said in a blog post on Friday. In his first television interview this election season, Mr Gandhi had said that the idea that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a crusader against corruption has been destroyed and he was set to lose the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

"Dynasts have a sense of entitlement. They believe that they were born to rule. Gandhis suffer from this sense of entitlement," Mr Jaitley wrote, adding, "The irony of every dynast is that he buys his own propaganda even if there are not too many others willing to accept it."

"Rahul's statement quoted in a media organisation yesterday that 'I have dismantled Modi's image' was a give-away. The only way a dynast with a little acceptability in the country can react to the commoner who defeated him is that 'I will damage his image'," the Finance Minister said.

Saying that PM Modi was "at the peak of his popularity", Arun Jaitley claimed Rahul Gandhi had "a disproportionate impression about his oratorical skills when he challenges one of the greatest communicators of his times, Prime Minister Modi, for a public debate."

"Rahul's attitude is at complete variation with the traditional Congress way of doing things. His revenge against Prime Minister Modi may not succeed. It may well turn out to be a revenge against the Congress," he said.

Doubling down on his accusation of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal against the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi had told NDTV yesterday: "The Prime Minister can't stand on a stage and say the things he was saying in 2014. We have dismantled the Prime Minister of India."

"Our numbers show that 67 per cent in India now know that Rafale was a scam. Let's do a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Corruption will be established," he added.

Rahul Gandhi also said his party was doing better after four rounds of voting for the Lok Sabha polls. "The BJP is not winning, it is pretty clear. Narendra Modi is not going to be Prime Minister, guaranteed. There is massive unemployment in the country, massive farmer disenchantment, farmer suicides in the country," he said.