NEW DELHI – Indian defence minister has been insulted at home by Congress,media has reported.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said the prime minister got a’woman’ to defend him in Parliament as he couldn’t do so himself, a remarkthat appeared to trigger a sharp retort from Narendra Modi who accused theopposition of insulting Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Calling Modi a prime minister who claimed to have a broad chest, Gandhisaid, the prime minister had “run away” from debate in Parliament on thedefence deal.

“The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a woman, Sitharamanji, defend me. I won’t be able to defend myself, defend me,” he said at afarmers’ rally in Jaipur.

“For two and a half hours, the woman could not defend him. I had asked astraight question ” answer yes or no ” but she couldn’t answer,” theCongress chief said, using the word “mahila’ for a woman in his speech inHindi.