In new events unfolding each day, the BJP on Friday moved the Election Commission seeking action against Congress President, Rahul Gandhi for his "abusive" and "completely untrue" comments against PM Modi, accusing the Congress president of wrongly attributing words to the Supreme Court in the Rafale case.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed her party's "disappointment" with EC saying that it has looked the other way despite their repeated pleas to it against Gandhi for his "baseless" accusations against Modi. A BJP delegation, including Sitharaman, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and its media head Anil Baluni, submitted to the EC a memorandum in which the party also accused the Trinamool Congress of poll rigging in West Bengal during the first phase polling of the general election on Thursday.
Pointing to Gandhi's remarks on Wednesday that the SC has acknowledged that Modi is a "thief" and that he gave Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani, Naqvi said such "lies" and "baseless allegations" are not only violative of the Model Code of Conduct but also fall under "corrupt practices", as described in the Representation of People Act.
He said that the court had never said such a thing.
Sitharaman accused Rahul Gandhi of using abusive and strong statements which are totally untrue like repeatedly calling the prime minister a 'chor' (thief) and also putting words in the mouth of Supreme Court.
Calling out at Gandhi, Naqvi said the "brand new president" of an old party like the Congress has crossed all boundaries with his utterances.
SC on Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgment and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them.
Gandhi had then claimed that the court has accepted that Modi was a thief.