• Rajyavardhan Rathore slammed Shashi Tharoor for tweeting a report based on “solid evidence” of hearsay
• Earlier today, the Congress leader had tweeted a news report claiming that the Union government has spent Rs 35 lakhs on Pm Modi’s fitness video

NEW DELHI: I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore on Monday slammed Congress leader  Shashi Tharoor and said that no money was spent on PM Modi’s fitness video.

The Union minister was responding to Tharoor’s tweet which had cited a media report alleging Rs 35 lakh was spent to shoot the video.

The I&B minister took a dig at Tharoor’s mention of “lambs” in the tweet and said, “And I assure you, sir, not a single ‘lamb’ was sacrificed for the vid, let alone 35!”

Earlier today, the Congress leader had tweeted a news report claiming that the Union government has spent Rs 20 crore on advertisements on Yoga Day celebrated on June 21 and Rs 35 lakhs on a fitness video.

On June 13, a week before the Yoga Day, the Prime Minister had tweeted a video of him performing yoga.

While referring to the post, the 38-year-old Congress leader said that despite having a picture of Lord Ram as his profile picture, the accused did not hesitate from making such remarks.

Mumbai: Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police after a rape threat directed at her 10-year-old daughter by a troll account on micro-blogging site Twitter.

“I have filed a complaint at the Goregaon police station. Police have assured me of prompt action in the matter,” Chaturvedi told PTI. In the tweet, which was deleted later, a user @GirishK1605 had threatened to rape Chaturvedi’s minor daughter.

“Despite having a picture of Lord Ram as his profile picture, the accused did not hesitate from making such remarks,” Chaturvedi tweeted. “I hope Mumbai Police will take action. They have called me and have initiated action,” she added.

“Many thanks to all those who have called and tweeted in support. Grateful. I am convinced that if there is evil in society there is even greater goodness. PS: If I am a fierce woman, let me assure you I am a fiercer mom and will not let those who target my children get away with threats,” she tweeted.

The incident comes at a time when even senior Union minister Sushma Swaraj has become target of hate messages on social media platforms like Twitter.

After becoming subject of offensive tweets following a passport row involving an interfaith couple, Swaraj had decided to expose such trolls and began re-tweeting some of those tweets.

The external affairs minister also conducted a poll on Twitter asking users whether they “approve” of such trolling to which 43 per cent said yes and 57 per cent no.

On Monday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh became her first cabinet colleague to publicly express his support for Swaraj to denounce such offensive tweets against her and said her trolling is wrong.

NCP leader Supriya Sule also condemned the rape threats to Chaturvedi’s daughter.

“The troller/account holder posting such threats must be booked under the law and needs to be punished immediate,” Sule tweeted while asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take serious cognizance of the issue.

Ilyas Azmi accused Kejriwal of indulging in caste and community-based politics and of ignoring Muslims and people from backward classes.

A year after senior AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav broke away from AAP, another founder-member, Ilyas Azmi, resigned Monday alleging that minorities and backward castes were being ignored by the party. He also alleged that the AAP had turned into a one-person party.

Speaking to correspondents Azmi — who is a former AAP National Executive and Political Affairs Committee (PAC) member — said, “The committees that the party was forming were either their people or belonged to the upper castes. I raised this issue in the party several times – caste-based discrimination is a dangerous thing and we need to bring an end to it. I joined the party because of its anti-corruption stand. Prior to the Delhi elections, they formed state units where most leaders belonged to the upper castes. There were half a dozen backward castes or minority leaders. For Delhi elections, all of us put our entire resources behind the party.”

Azmi also accused the party of functioning in an autocratic manner. “After removing Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha, I noticed that the party leaders liked those who agreed with them. So, I decided to skip meetings since then. Now, there is hardly anyone who speaks out against the leadership. I tried to tell them that this form of functioning was not good…” he said.

While AAP declined to comment on Azmi’s resignation, party sources claimed he had objected to the rise of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and minister Imran Hussain. “He had raised concerns about the importance being given to them,” said a source.