Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Breaking her silence, Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Minister of State for Human Resources Development (HRD) Shashi Tharoor, has hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for referring to her as an ‘Rs 50 crore girlfriend’.
In interviews to news channels, Sunanda, who was allegedly linked to the IPL Kochi cricket controversy in 2009, slammed Modi and termed his jibe as ‘utterly disgusting’ and said that she was "extremely disappointed" at Modi`s remarks and wondered, "how can someone stoop to something like that".
Modi made the comment at an election rally in Himachal Pradesh three days ago, after Tharoor was brought back into the union council of ministers. The Thiruvananthapuram MP had resigned from the Union ministry in 2010 over the IPL Kochi episode.
"We did not expect this from the Gujarat Chief Minister. Shashi was taken aback, I had asked him to ignore the comment," said Sunanda in an interview.
She said that she did not expect an apology from the Gujarat Chief Minister. "No I don`t expect an apology…didn`t expect from a CM. Nobody should stoop so low. Lot of people got hurt, my young son was hurt…Modi has a track record of disrespecting women," she said.
Referring to the IPL Kochi team issue, Pushkar said: "we have completely sorted it out, answered all questions of the ED (Enforcement Directorate)". "Where is the Rs 50 crore?" asked Pushkar.
"I was highly amused by the figure ... Earlier, the figure was Rs 70 crore, so where has Rs 20 crore gone?"
"The BJP needs to figure it out ... it is an imaginary figure," she said, adding: "Show me the money."
Pushkar claimed there was "no money involved" in her venture in the IPL Kochi.
On BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi terming her husband a "love guru" who should be given the "ministry of love affairs", Pushkar said the remark was "very sad" as she came from an affectionate family that believed in "PDA" or public display of affection.
"The BJP had nothing else to attack ... If they were real men, they would attack on proper issues ... They attack everybody without proof," said Pushkar, adding that "This guy (Modi) wants to win the elections."
To Modi`s comment, Tharoor had retorted with a tweet: "My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need to be able to love someone to understand that."
