Indian PM taunts Rahul Gandhi over corruption allegations

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday took a jibe at main opposition Congress party's second-in-command Rahul Gandhi, saying he is happy that the young Nehru-Gandhi scion has now started speaking.

"They (Congress) have a youth leader, he is learning how to speak. Since the time he has learnt how to speak, I am the happiest. In 2009, you couldn't even tell what is inside this packet. Now we are finding out. If he hasn't spoken, there would be a earthquake," Modi said.

He added: "It would have been such an earthquake that people would have to deal with it for 10 years. But good he spoke, there is no chance of an earthquake."

Modi's dig at Gandhi at the launch of a hospital in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh came a day after the Congress vice president accused him of receiving millions in kickbacks when he was the Chief Minister of the western state of Gujarat.

Gandhi Wednesday alleged that Modi got millions of rupees from two well-known corporate houses in India during his stint as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, prompting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to refute the allegations and call the Congress leader a "bluffmaster."

Last week, Gandhi had threatened to cause an "earthquake" by exposing the "personal corruption of Prime Minister Modi" amid an ongoing row between the Indian government and opposition parties over the scrapping of currency notes of higher denominations, aimed at curbing black money.

source: Xinhua