At a rally in Gujarat, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s said Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, had taken money from Sahara and Birla groups.

The BJP on Wednesday strongly dismissed as “utterly baseless” and “shameful” Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister had taken money from the Sahara and Birla groups. The Prime Minister is as “pure” as the Ganga, the party said.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the allegations reflected the Congress leader’s frustration and were an attempt to divert the attention from the AgustaWestland probe in which the names of Congress leaders and the “family” were coming up.

“The allegations levelled against the Prime Minister are baseless, false, shameful and mala fide and they reflected Rahul Gandhi’s frustration in leading his party to disastrous defeats in State after State,” he said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters.

Addressing a rally in Mehsana in Gujarat, Mr. Gandhi alleged that Mr. Modi as Chief Minister had taken money from the Sahara and Birla groups, and demanded an independent inquiry.

“People don’t take Congress VP seriously”

Wondering why Mr. Gandhi did not raise the voice against UPA government’s massive scams, Mr. Prasad said people do not take the Congress leader seriously.

“There is no expectation from Rahul Gandhi who has demonstrated himself as the biggest partner of corruption during the 10-year rule of the UPA... Why he did not utter a single word when crores of rupees were being looted during the Congress rule,” asked Mr. Prasad.

“Our Prime Minister is as pure as the Ganga river,” he said, adding that even the Supreme Court had observed that there was no basis in the allegations.

Mr. Prasad was referring to the Supreme Court rejecting a plea for a probe by a special investigation team against Mr. Modi on allegations that two companies paid Rs 65 crore to him ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said Mr. Gandhi was immature and was just indulging in bluff and bluster because people were not taking him seriously.

“People of India have stopped taking him seriously. Rahul Gandhi is just bluff and bluster. There is no substance in what he says. He is just showing his and his party’s incompetence,” he said.