The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a scathing on Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his Mahakaleshwar Temple visit in Ujjain ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. Addressing the media in Indore on Monday evening, party spokesperson Sambit Patra asked Rahul about his ‘gotra’ (clan) and accused him of making fool by exhibiting ‘fancy dress Hinduism’.

Patra said that for over 70 years since independence, the Congress party has been playing bitter politics in the name of secularism.

“Rahul Gandhi is exhibiting fancy dress Hinduism continuously. To mislead the Hindus, he is sporting a janeu over the shirt. We demand that janeudhari Rahul Gandhi clarify to which gotra does he belong to,” Patra asked.

Also Read: Congress sponsoring ads against PM Modi in Pakistan: BJP

Patra even said that since Rahul had not given any answer to this question, people were calling him a ‘Vatican gotra ka Brahmin’ – reference made to her mother Sonia Gandhi who is an Italian by birth.

Rahul on Monday began his two-day visit of politically important Malwa-Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh by offering prayers at the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain. Clad in a dhoti, the Congress president, accompanied by party’s state unit president Kamal Nath and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, visited the temple and performed special puja. This was Rahul’s second visit to the temple. He had last visited the shrine in 2010.

Watch video: Rahul Gandhi visits Mahakaleshwar Temple

On Tharoor’s recent remark claiming that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion sitting on a Shivlinga, Patra said that Congress leaders were continuously disrespecting the Hindus by making objectionable statements. He demanded from Rahul to apologise for Tharoor’s comments and expel him from the party.

“They have been treating Hindus as second-grade citizens,” the BJP spokesperson said.

“The objectionable statement of Tharoor, who is very close to Rahul Gandhi, has disrespected not only the holy deity of Lord Mahadev, worshipped by crores of Hindus, but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In such a situation, how will he (Gandhi) offer prayers at the Mahakal temple,” he added.

Both the ruling BJP and Congress have intensified campaigning for single-phase election on November 28 in the state. While BJP’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking the fourth consecutive term in office, the Congress is flexing its muscles to root out the BJP and end its 15 years exile. The results will be declared on December 11.