UP CM Yogi Adityanath | Photo Credit: PTI

Raipur: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) star campaigner and Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Adityanath stirred a fresh controversy at a rally in Chhattisgarh. Adityanath attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi calling him ‘Italy ka saudagar’. Adityanath then in a reference to Gandhi family said under Congress’ rule in Chhattisgarh, agents from Italy indulged anti-national activities like conversions etc.

Yogi’s verbal attack comes a day after Thiruvananthapuram MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that India has a “chaiwala PM” because of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Speaking on the eve of Nehru’s birthday, Tharoor claimed that it is because of the institutional structure created by Nehru that a chaiwala can rise to power to become Prime Minister.

In Congress’s 3 year rule in Chhattisgarh, anti-national activity of religious conversion was at its peak by agents of Italy, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath@AditiAnarayanan with details pic.twitter.com/v9bFngOrxB — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 15, 2018

Yogi earlier attacked the Congress in Chhattisgarh, calling it the "biggest hurdle" in building a Ram temple in Ayodhya. While addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district for the second phase of Assembly polls scheduled for November 20, Adityanath also pulled up Congress for glorifying Naxals as "revolutionaries".

"The Congress is the biggest hurdle in the construction of Ram temple and prestige of Hindus will not be protected until the Congress is there," he said. He also termed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's temple visits a "hypocrisy".

On one hand, Congress leader Kapil Sibal appealed in the Supreme Court to defer hearing on Ayodhya land dispute case till 2019 Lok Sabha polls to delay the construction of Ram temple, on the other, Gandhi was visiting temples for political gains, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister alleged. He also accused Gandhi of "insulting" people by labelling Hindus as "terrorists".