Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has faced criticism from Sanjay Nirupam, the beleaguered Congress leader from Maharashtra. 

He said, “Not everyone is an atheist in the Congress party. The tradition of performing puja to weapons has been there for a long time. So there is no need to ridicule this.” 
Kharge had openly criticised the behaviour of defence minister Rajnath Singh in which he had placed lemons and applied tilak on the brand new Rafale jet handed over to India on the day of Vijayadashami in France. 

As the pictures went viral, Congress party went berserk saying such rituals are not at all needed. 

The fight between Mallikarjun Kharge and Sanjay is not new. Just a few days ago, Sanjay had slammed Kharge saying ‘he is a strategist with malafide intention’ over ticket distribution in the state.  
India has placed an order for procuring 36 Rafale jets from France. The one that Defence minister received was the first jet. The remaining will be handed over in the next few months. The aircraft will be inducted into the IAF in May next.

As per Hindu faith, on the day of Navami during Dussehra, vehicles and other tools are worshipped with flowers. Arati is also performed as a mark of veneration.

It is believed that on the day of Vijaya Dashami, Arjuna, the third sibling among Pandavas retrieved his weapons which he had hidden under a Shami tree, before he left for his exile for 14 years.

It is pertinent to note that that Madras high court had once ruled that performing Ayudha puja or Saraswati puja in government offices was not non-secular.

Sanjay Nirupam, along with former Haryana chief Ashok Tanwar, Sanjay Nirupam happens to be another rebel within the Congress party as the two states of Haryana and Maharashtra go to polls on October 21.