Rahul reiterates ‘love’ for Modi, says PM angry with him

PTI, Apr 5, 2019, 4:38 PM IST

Pune: Congress President Rahul Gandhi Friday reiterated his ‘love’ for Prime Minister Narendra Modi but bemoaned that the latter has only anger towards him.

Gandhi was interacting with students in Pune. “I love PM Modi. Genuinely, I have no hatred or anger towards the man, but he (Modi) has anger towards me,” he said.

“I genuinely do not have anger towards him, he added. There were brief chants of “Modi, Modi” soon after this comment, to which Gandhi responded,” Its fine.. its OK”.

This was not the first time Gandhi spoke of having ‘affection’ for Modi. In March, he recalled the day he had hugged Modi and said he could not hate him since love “is in the country’s grain, every religion, and the Tamil people”.

He made those remarks while interacting with students of a college in Chennai. When a student asked him why he chose to hug the prime minister, Gandhi had said he had watched a ‘very angry’ Modi in Parliament running down his party, his late father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia.

After a fiery speech in Parliament in October last year, Gandhi had done something unprecedented: He had walked up to Modi and hugged him, leaving the PM bewildered for a moment.

Gandhi also told the students at Pune that his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was his “best friend”, adding there can be no fights with her.

Gandhi said he has seen a lot of violence affecting his family and refereed to the assassinations of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

He gave an insight into his rapport with his younger sibling, who formally entered politics a few months ago, and childhood memories.

Asked if ever has fights or arguments with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he said, “There would be fights earlier. But not now. Since I was small, I have been through a lot of violence with the assassinations of my grandmother and father.

“My sister has been my friend and we understand each other well. If there is a situation of argument, sometimes she backs off and sometimes I do.