Cong unfazed by EC notice, says nothing wrong in Rahul's remark, PM misused machinery

New Delhi, Nov 2: Unfazed by the Election Commission's notice, Congress today justified Rahul Gandhi's attack on BJP in Bihar elections and said the poll body should not have allowed "blatant misuse of machinery" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Party spokesman Anand Sharma said there was "nothing wrong" in Gandhi's statement as it was a part of the political discourse.

The Prime Minister should've been given a notice instead as his speeches in Bihar have been "seeds for dividing people by selectively targeting minority community", he said.

The EC had yesterday issued a show-cause notice to Rahul Gandhi for his remarks that BJP makes Hindus and Muslims fight each other and said prima facie the Congress vice president has violated the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct in force for Bihar polls.

Noting that the EC has a constitutional mandate for holding free and fair polls, Sharma said the Commission should have "not allowed blatant misuse of machinery by the Prime Minister".

He said the Prime Minister twice made policy statements through his "Man Ki Baat" programme on public broadcaster All India Radio.

Also, the AIR and Doordarshan telecast live RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's Dussehra address "which only talked about the so called achievements of the Modi Government," he alleged.

"Why the Election Commission failed to prevent this blatant misuse?" Sharma asked.

Replying to a question, he said Congress President Sonia Gandhi would be meeting President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow in the backdrop of growing intolerance in the country. Sharma, however, did not give any details in this regard.

PTI