Panji, July 24: Goa BJP spokesman Dattaprasad Naik on Monday called Congress president Rahul Gandhi a 'loafer' for winking in Lok Sabha after hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate on the no-confidence motion. Naik said Rahul Gandhi resorted to cheap gimmicks to draw attention and winked like a loafer in Parliament.

"Rahul Gandhi, who does not have substance or understanding of the issues related to the people of India, had to resort to hugging the PM in the temple of democracy and then winking like a loafer," the BJP spokesman said in a press note. "We have only heard of loafers winking at girls in colleges in the past and never such a shameful act has happened in the temple of democracy," he added.

Naik further said the Congress party has become a kathputli (pawn) in the hands of Gandhi family. He went on to say that former prime minister Dr Mamohan Singh, former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat and all Congress presidents of the state were kathputli leaders.

The BJP spokesman's angry outburst was apparently a reaction to Chodankar's statement yesterday that Parrikar was acting like a "kathputli" in the hands of the BJP's coalition partners in the state. Addressing a press conference, Chodankar had lambasted Parrikar over his failure to take action on the issue of chemically-laced fish being sold in Goa's markets.

The Congress leader had said Parrikar was acting at the behest of the Goa Forward Party, a key ally in the BJP-led government in the state. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2018 10:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).