NEW DELHI: The BJP has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Rahul Gandhi for his "panauti" jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The party has sought action against the Congressleader.
A party delegation, which included its general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and another functionary Om Pathak, also sought the poll watchdog's action against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accusing him of falsely claiming that Modi's caste was included in Gujarat's OBC list when he was the state chief minister.The Ghanchi caste, a community traditionally employed in oil pressing, was included in the OBC list in 1999 while Modi became chief minister in 2001, Pathak said.
"We request the Election Commission to intervene urgently by taking appropriate legal action against Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi for their continued fraudulent, baseless and abusive practice and to pass a prohibitory order against them," the BJP delegation said in its communication to the EC.Rahul Gandhi calls PM Modi a 'Panauti' during campaign in Rajasthan polls"Otherwise, it will spoil the electoral environment, where "abusing, usage of objectionable and offensive language to defame respectable individuals and spreading false news will become inevitable", it added.Rahul Gandhi had linked India's defeat at the World Cup final to PM Modi's presence in the stadium.
Referring to the final match in Ahmedabad on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi had said "PM means Panauti Modi", suggesting that the PM's presence had brought bad luck to the team.
"Modi comes on TV and says 'Hindu-Muslim' and sometimes goes to a cricket match.
It is a different matter that the match was lost.
Panauti," Rahul had said.Rahul's jibe evoked very strong reactions from the BJP which called the Congress leader's comment as "shameful and disgraceful".
Some BJP leaders responded by calling Rahul Gandhi "mandbudhi" and shameless.Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused Rahul of being "anti-national" for referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "panauti" and said the people of the country will not forgive this.
"If Prime Minister Modi goes there, then it is a matter of pride for us.
But the people of Congress are so afraid of Prime Minister Modi and have so much hatred for him that they celebrate when India loses a match," he charged.
"I believe that this act (of Rahul Gandhi) is anti-national," he said, adding there is no bigger example of "mindlessness" than this and people of the country will not forgive this.(With inputs from agencies)WatchRahul Gandhi calls PM Modi a 'Panauti' during campaign in Rajasthan polls