PM’s Rajiv jibe: Why double standard, Jaitley asks Congress

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday attacked the Congress for referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "chor" (thief) but crying hoarse when the Prime Minister called former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi "corrupt".

In a tweet, Arun Jaitley asked the Congress if there are two model codes of conduct -- they can call the Prime Minister thief but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot call a former PM corrupt.

In a tweet on Monday, the Union Finance Minister said: "The Congress and its President can call an honest Prime Minister 'Chor'. No Model Code of Conduct is preventing that. If the PM calls the Congress legacy as 'Corrupt No. 1', the Congress complains that the Model Code of Conduct is violated. Are there two Model Codes of Conduct?"

The Congress had on Monday demanded that PM Modi be barred from election campaigning for calling former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi "corrupt".

Senior Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khurshid and Rajeev Shukla had met the Election Commission on Monday evening to lodge a complaint against Modi.

"The comments of Prime Minister Modi about Rajiv Gandhiji are serious in nature. The language he used is shameful, which cannot be uttered again," Singhvi told reporters outside the Nirvachan Bhavan, the EC headquarters.

"We have asked the Commission officials to bar Modiji from further campaigning this election."

Taking a jibe at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Modi at a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh on Saturday had said: "Your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'bhrashtachari' (corrupt) No. 1."