The war of words between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images] and the Congress escalated today with the BJP leader in a veiled reference to Rahul Gandhi [Images] likening him to a "small aquarium fish" unlike leaders in the saffron party who are like "ocean fish" who can weather big storms.

The Congress quickly reacted sharply to Modi's fish remarks targeting the scion of the Gandhi-Nehru family in the intense debate on experience versus youth issue ahead of general elections saying he was like a "piranha who devoured human beings".

"If Rahul is like a fish in the aquarium, then Modi is a piranha who devoured human beings," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said in New Delhi [Images].

The remarks of Modi poking fun at Gandhi while addressing a rally at Margao, 40 km from here, came on a day when the 38-year-old AICC general secretary  began his two-day Gujarat tour, his third visit to the state in the last 20 days,

Modi said youths in Congress are incapable of taking on challenges while BJP's youth wing can handle any hostile
weather.

"We are not small fish floating in the comfort of aquariums but we weather huge storms to win," Modi said in an apparent reference to Rahul, who is being projected as a youth icon for the coming elections.

 In a veiled attack again at Rahul, Modi said, "We are not flowers cultivated by gardeners of the rich, we have grown up in the forests of our own."