'Senseless noise': Govt on Cong's swipe at Modi's photo gifted to him at India-Aus match

A day after the Congress took a swipe over Prime Minister Narendra Modi being gifted a photo of himself ahead of the India-Australia Test match, government sources on Friday dismissed it as "senseless noise" and said it was a special gesture to gift photos of the PMs made up by a collage of all cricketers who played for the two nations in the last 75 years.

Prime Minister Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese watched the fourth and final Test match between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Both leaders also took a round of the massive sports arena on a golf cart before the start of the match.

BCCI president Roger Binny presented Albanese with his portrait while secretary Jay Shah gave one to PM Modi.

In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress, while sharing a picture of PM Modi receiving the gift from the BCCI secretary had said, "Narendra Modi's friend's son presenting Narendra Modi's photo to Narendra Modi at the Narendra Modi Stadium."

Reacting to the criticism, government sources said that for all the "senseless noise" created by the Congress and their backers about photos of both PMs, the fact is that it was a special gesture to gift them photos made up by a collage of all cricketers who played for the respective two countries in the last 75 years.

On Twitter, the BCCI had shared the video of the PM being presented with the gift, and said, "Mr. Jay Shah, Honorary Secretary, BCCI, presents framed artwork to Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modiji, celebrating 75 years of friendship with Australia through cricket."