NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday took a dig at veteran Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his foreign accent, evoking an equally befitting response from the latter.
Piyush Goyal, while participating in a debate in Lok Sabha, had said that he did not understand the Congress leader's "foreign accent".
While speaking on the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, Tharoor had attacked the government saying there was a "significant gap" between the government's rhetoric and action.
The Congress MP had launched a scathing attack on the Modi government saying Nirav Modi, who had fled the country after allegedly duping state-run banks of crores of rupees, was photographed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Davos.
The Prime Minister had promised to be a "chowkidar", Tharoor had said during the debate.
While replying to the debate on the bill, Goyal said he did not understand the "foreign English accent" of Tharoor.
This was objected to by RSP member N K Premachandran, who is also Tharoor's fellow MP from Kerala.
He came to the Congress MP's defence, saying "It is not fair on the part of the minister" to make such a comment.
When Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar intervened in the matter, Premachandran retorted that he had every right to do so, since the minister had made an observation about a member of the Opposition.
Tharoor later took to Twitter and tweeted that Goyal's remarks explained why BJP keeps misinterpreting and distorting his words.
Interesting to see that @PiyushGoyal says he can't understand my words: https://t.co/nuhwitAA6V That explains why his Party keeps misinterpreting & distorting them!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 19, 2018
Known for his chaste English and good vocabulary, Tharoor is a two-time MP from Thiruvanathapuram in Kerala.
Prior to his entry in politics, Tharoor served extensively at the United Nations, where he had unsuccessfully contested for the UN Secretary General's post.
