Everyone knows who holds 'remote control': PM Modi rips into Congress for 'insulting' Kharge

Under whose ''umbrella'' did the prime minister's ''best friend'' loot everything in the country, asked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday in a retort to Narendra Modi's ''umbrella'' jibe while claiming the opposition party insulted its chief during its plenary session in Chhattisgarh.

At a rally in Karnataka's Belagavi on Monday, PM Modi claimed that Kharge, who hails from the state, was insulted and disrespected by the Congress in favour of a ''family'', despite his seniority and age.

''Mallikarjun Kharge has served the public in whatever way possible...I was disheartened to see how the most senior leader, the president of Congress has been disrespected by them...The world knows who has the remote control,'' PM Modi said.

''I have great respect for Mallikarjun Kharge, a son of this land, who has about 50 years of parliamentary or legislature experience. He has tried to do whatever he could in the service of people. But I was sad looking at how Kharge, who is the president of the party and a senior in age, was treated during the Congress' session in Chhattisgarh.'' ''The weather was hot... but in that heat, Kharge did not have the fortune of getting an umbrella's shade. It was for someone standing next to him,'' Modi said.

"The weather was hot, everyone standing there feeling the heat was natural, but in that heat the good fortune of umbrella's shade was not there for Kharge who is Congress chief and senior in age. The umbrella's shade was for someone standing next to him. This shows Kharge is Congress President just for the sake of it, and looking at the way he is treated, everyone can see and understand, as to whose hands the remote control is in," he further said.

Hitting back at the prime minister over his remarks, Kharge said, ''Narendra Modi ji, under whose umbrella did your 'best friend' loot everything in the country?'' ''We are Congress persons standing under the shade of the tricolour, who freed the country by defeating 'Company Raj', and will never allow the country to become 'Company Raj','' Kharge said in a tweet in Hindi.

''Tell us, when will there be a joint parliamentary committee probe on Adani,'' the Congress chief asked.