Bharatiya Janata Party’s former national president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday took a dig at Congressmen, sayingeven the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, “supported corrupt leaders”.

Accusing the Congress of corruption, Singh said when Nehru was apprised of corrupt Congress leaders, instead of taking action against them, he embarked on a campaign to save the “corrupt” leaders.

“Had Nehru sent the Congress leaders to jail for corruption, there would have been no corrupt practices today,” he said while addressing a rally at Ferozepur and Amritsar in support of saffron party candidates.

Corruption, he said, has taken such alarming proportions that even “the home minister seems to be progressing for jail”.

He said that the Congress worked on the divide and rule policy. He lashed out at Punjab Congress president and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for threatening rebels of carnage.

“Democracy has no place for violence. Political leaders play role in dousing the flames, but Amarinder Singh’s language is volatile,” he said.

Rajnath said Indians have given the Congress maximum opportunity to rule. “Post-Independence, the Congress has remained at the helm of affairs for around three-fourth of the total period. But the country is progressing towards disaster instead of development,” he said, adding that Congress leaders’ six months’ “bungled money” is equivalent to the five-year budget of the Punjab state.

Accusing the Congress, Rajnath said the schemes for Kargil martyrs and their families too are bogged  with scams.