New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched a sharp counterattack against the Congress, accusing its leadership of hurling abuses at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, BJP MP Sambit Patra targeted Rahul Gandhi, calling him the “new Mani Shankar Aiyar of Congress” and alleging that his repeated use of derogatory language against PM Modi reflected the Opposition’s “arrogance and political frustration.”

Patra said the language being used by Congress and RJD supporters in Bihar was “deeply disturbing” and a matter of “shame” for a party that once associated itself with the freedom struggle. “The same party that followed Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals has now turned into a ‘Gali Wali Congress’, a party belonging only to the Gandhi family,” he remarked. Sharpening his attack on LoP Rahul Gandhi, Patra recalled how former Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had sparked controversy by insulting PM Modi years ago. “There is no difference between Rahul Gandhi, Mani Shankar Aiyar, and Sanjay Raut. Rahul Gandhi himself has become the new Mani Shankar Aiyar of Congress,” he said.

The BJP MP also accused LoP Rahul Gandhi of undermining constitutional institutions by repeatedly branding them “chor”. “There was a time when the party’s slogan was ‘Gali Gali Congress Hai’. Today, it has become ‘Gaali Wali Congress Hai’. If they think abuses will help them politically, good luck to them. No one has ever progressed in this country through abuses,” Patra asserted.

Taking aim at the Congress’s much-touted “Mohabbat ki Dukaan” campaign, Patra said the party had “opened the wrong kind of shop.” He cited the case of a former Youth Congress president in Kerala who quit amid allegations of sending obscene messages, remarking that the Congress’s idea of love was “filthy language and vulgar behaviour.” Patra added that Bihar’s people, inheritors of a rich political and cultural legacy, would deliver a strong answer to such conduct. “PM Modi represents 140 crore Indians. Insulting him is an insult to the nation itself. The INDIA bloc must introspect before it slips further into political irrelevance,” he said.