Advani our father figure, deeply hurt by Rahul's words: Sushma Swaraj on 'booted out’ remark

New Delhi, Apr 06: Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his remark on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) replacing L K Advani with Amit Shah in Gandhinagar.

Taking to twitter Swaraj wrote: "Rahulji - Advani ji is our father figure. Your words have hurt us deeply. Please try to maintain some decorum of your speech."

Rahul on Friday took a jibe at the "guru-shishya" relation between Narendra Modi and senior BJP leader L K Advani stating that the Prime Minister booted out Advani and does not even respectably fold his hands and greet the veteran BJP leader.

"In Hinduism, guru is supreme. It talks of guru-shishya tradition. Who is Modi's guru? Advani. Joota maar ke stage se utara (Advani was kicked out from stage)." Gandhi said Modi had humiliated Advani, and added that disrespecting one's guru is not Hindu culture.

Rahul's statement comes after Advani, in a blog, said that the BJP never regarded its adversaries as "enemies" or "anti-national".

BJP denied a ticket to Advani from Gandhinagar, the seat he has represented in the Lok Sabha for many years. The party instead named Amit Shah as the candidate from this seat in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.