Hyderabad, Aug 6: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha last month. Addressing a public gathering, Asaduddin Owaisi said the demonetisation ruined business, but the Congress chief was hugging the prime minister.

"Children are being killed in the name of cows, mothers are being separated from their kids, sisters are getting widowed, and you are hugging each other," Owaisi said. "Petrol prices are hiked because of PM Modi, business is getting ruined, and you are hugging him? Tell me, what kind of secularism is this?" the AIMIM chief added. Owaisi has been accusing the Congress party of being a flag bearer of pseudo-secularism.

Creating flutter in political circles, Rahul Gandhi on July 20 surprised the Lok Sabha when after bitterly criticising the BJP-led government during the no-confidence motion, he walked across and hugged an unwilling Modi. To top that, he also winked at at his party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia who sits next to him in Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, expressed her displeasure, saying the gesture diminished the decorum of the House.

Before hug and wink, Rahul delivered a 15-minute long stormy speech, that was interrupted several times by BJP members. However, he focused his attack on issues where he felt the NDA government had failed since 2014, including the Goods and Services Tax, the demonetisation move, the Rafale deal, among others.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2018 03:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).