BJP complains to EC against Rahul, seeks derecognition of Cong

Accusing Rahul Gandhi and Congress of flouting the Model Code of Conduct, BJP today complained to the Election Commission over his remarks linking RSS to Mahatma Gandhi's killing and sought action against the Congress Vice President and derecognition of the party.

In a memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, BJP charged Gandhi and his party with being "habitual offenders" of the poll code and flaring up communal tension ahead of elections.

"It is prayed that appropriate action may kindly be taken against the Indian National Congress as well as Rahul Gandhi, MP and Vice President, Indian National Congress for violating the Model Code of Conduct and the recognition of Indian National Congress as a National Party may kindly be withdrawn immediately for repeated violations of the Model Code of Conduct," it said.

BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the entire tone and tenor of Gandhi's speech was to incite the feelings of the people and create hatred towards BJP as well as RSS.

He said his statement makes it clear the aim is to put across absolutely false and baseless notions in the minds of the people that BJP creates confrontation and enmity between Hindus and Muslims as well as amongst other communities and regions.

"The intention of Rahul Gandhi was to incite the feelings of the people by falsely portraying the RSS to be responsible for his (Mahatma Gandhi's) death and further create a sense of fear amongst the Hindus, Muslims and other communities that the BJP will create tensions between them," Naqvi said in the memorandum.

He said the statements of Gandhi "are not only false, disgraceful, condemnable, baseless but also an utter violation of the Model Code of Conduct as well as established democratic practices".

"It is an attempt to mislead the people of the country by character assassination of the BJP, RSS and its members, based on completely false and baseless allegations and propaganda," he said.

The memorandum said Congress has not disassociated itself from the statements made by its Vice President till date and on the contrary, Congress members had actively endorsed and defended his statements at all public platforms.

It demanded that the recognition of Congress as a national party may be withdrawn.

Naqvi said the speech was not an isolated incident of model code violation as during the Assembly elections in five states in November-December last year, he had made certain similar statements and the EC had conveyed its displeasure to him and advised him to be more circumspect in his public utterances during election campaign in its order of November 13, 2013.

"That the utterances of Gandhi have not been withdrawn by him till date and the false and misleading statements as well as inflammatory statements inciting feelings of hatred amongst the people are in clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct and, accordingly, Gandhi is liable to be proceeded against for the same," the memorandum stated.

Charging Congress and its leaders with flouting the code with "impunity" time and again inspite of warnings by the Commission, Naqvi said this is sixth instance of violation of the model code by senior Congress leaders during the last six months, five of them coming from Gandhi.

"Therefore, it is high time that strict action is initiated against Rahul Gandhi as well as Congress for repeatedly violating the Model Code of Conduct and challenging as well as undermining the instructions, warning as well as the authority of the Election Commission," he said.

He said, "It has become clear that with such statements, the Congress party is trying to make this election into a communal frenzy to incite communal feelings and passions...

"Rahul Gandhi is a habitual offender and Congress is a history-sheeter party of giving communal colour to elections. It is doing so to hide its own failures on the fronts of corruption, scams, price rise, national security and crime and thus divert public attention," he said.