Saibaba trust fumes over Rahul Gandhi's 'Shirdi' tweet on Piyush Goyal, demands apology

The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust Shirdi has slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi over one of his tweets targeting Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Piyush Goyal. Taking a dig at Goyal, Rahul had posted a tweet on Wednesday saying “there is no limits to the miracles of Shirdi”.

Reacting to it, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust Shirdi chairman Dr Suresh Haware took to Twitter terming the Gandhi scion's tweet as painful. He tweeted, "Rahul ji, dragging Shirdi amid political allegations and counter-allegations is painful. This has hurt the sentiments of Sai devotees in India and abroad. We condemn it on behalf of all Sai devotees. You should apologise to Sai devotees for this insult."

राहुलजी, राजनैतिक आरोप-प्रत्यारोप के बीच “शिर्डी “ को खिचना बहुत दर्दनाक है। ईससे, देश-विदेशके साईभक्तोंको बहुत ठेस पहुंची है।सभी साईभक्तोंकी ओरसे हम इसकी निंदा करते है।इस अपमानके लिए साईभक्तोंकी आपने माफी मांगनी चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/6OZobd8NQ6 — Dr. Suresh Haware (@sureshhaware) April 11, 2018

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala has defended the party chief, saying he was just highlighting that the “pious name” of Shirdi was being maligned by Goyal and company who had used the same for “swindling public money”. He said that the trust must take up the matter with SEBI and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand a ban on the use of Shirdi by any private or public company.

This comes just days after the ruling BJP took potshots on Rahul Gandhi over the latter holding fast at Rajghat in New Delhi to show solidarity with the members of the Dalit community. As the fast began, BJP leader Harish Khurana shared on Twitter a picture of Congress leaders, including Ajay Maken, Haroon Yusuf and Arvinder Singh Lovely, eating at a restaurant in New Delhi.

The Congress, however, dismissed the attack saying that the photograph was clicked before 8 am on Monday, hours before the fast began.

The party also faced flak over Jagdish Tytler, who has been named in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, being asked to leave the stage during the event. Clarifying on the same, the party said that Tytler was asked to leave as he did not meet the criteria for participating in the fast.