Panaji, Jul 24(PTI): Goa BJP spokesperson Dattaprasad Naik on Monday attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying he lacked understanding of issues related to the people of the country and, therefore, he hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then winked like a "loafer" in the Parliament.

The BJP's attack on Gandhi came a day after Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar called Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar a "kathputli" (puppet) in the hands of coalition partners.

"I would request the Goa Congress to support their central party office in finding a credible leader for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as their president Rahul Gandhi is finding it difficult to grab headlines and had to stoop down to cheap gimmicks," Naik said in a statement.

He was apparently referring to Gandhi's hug to PM Modi in Parliament during a debate on the no-confidence motion against the government on Friday.

"Rahul Gandhi, who does not have substance or understanding of the issues related to the people of India, had to resort to hugging the PM in the temple of democracy and then winking like a loafer," the spokesperson said.

"We have only heard of loafers winking at girls in colleges in the past and never such a shameful act has happened in the temple of democracy.”

“It is a shame that today the Congress party has become a kathputli in the hands of the Gandhi family," he said.

The BJP spokesperson's angry outburst was apparently a reaction to Chodankar's statement on Sunday that Parrikar was acting like a "kathputli" in the hands of the BJP's coalition partners in the state.

Addressing a press conference, Chodankar had lambasted Parrikar over his failure to take action on the issue of chemically-laced fish being sold in Goa's markets. The Congress leader had said Parrikar was acting at the behest of the Goa Forward Party, a key ally in the BJP-led government in the state.