Rahul insulted PM, ask him to quit: BJP tells Sonia

Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Tuesday came down on Congress President Sonia Gandhi for accusing the BJP of "making fun" of the prime minister, and said that it was the Congress vice-president who instead made fun of the PM.

"I read a statement of Soniaji where she said that the BJP made a fun of the prime minister, but the whole party is beside him (PM). But the person who made fun of the PM is the vice-president of the Congress Rahul Gandhi, not the BJP," Singh told a press conference in Kolkata.

"The BJP did not show any disrespect to the prime minister. If Soniaji has any concern for the respect of the PM, she should ask Congress vice-president to resign or tender an apology to the country," he said.

The BJP chief said that when the PM is out of the country, he is not the prime minister of a political party, but he represents the entire nation.

"At that time, snubbing the PM, putting a question mark on his credibility or even dubbing an ordinance a complete nonsense defeats the very purpose for which the PM has gone abroad," he said.

The BJP president said that his party was opposed to the ordinance to safeguard convicted parliamentarians and legislators from the beginning.

"Our leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had already met the president with a request not to sign it. I also request the President to return the ordinance," he said.