"Prime Minister has begun attacking own friends," Mallikarjun Kharge hits out after PM Modi's Ambani-Adani jibe

NEW DELHI: Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoking Ambani and Adani during a poll campaign speech in Telangana, the Congress president Mallikarajun Kharge said his jibes at "industrialist friends" indicated that his chair in the PMO was under threat.

Kharge said today, "Times are changing. Friends are no longer friends! After the completion of three phases of elections, today the Prime Minister has started attacking his own friends. It is becoming clear that PM Modi's chair is shaking. This is the real trend of the result."

The Congress president was reacting to Prime Minister's attack on party leader Rahul Gandhi for the silence on attacks on Adani and Ambani that had been going on for years.

Kharge said that Prime Minister had started attacking his own friends as he was jittery after three phases of Lok Sabha polls. Earlier today, addressing a rally in Telangana, PM Modi had said that for years the Congress' 'Shehzada' used to speak of '5 industrialists' and then he started to speak only of "Ambani and Adani" and now they are silent on them. "Since the election dates were declared, they (Rahul and other Congress leaders) have even stopped abusing Ambani, Adani. Why? I wish to ask the Shehzada of the Congress: how much black money have they received from Adani, Ambani? How much (funding) did the Congress receive from them for the (ongoing) elections? I smell something fishy here. The Congress should come out and clarify to the people," PM Modi said.