The Congress on Tuesday rejected the BJP's allegations that Congress President Rahul Gandhi was a British national and asserted that he was an Indian citizen.

"Rahul Gandhi is an Indian citizen... We will give a befitting reply to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) which issued notice to Rahul Gandhi on fake allegations aimed at diverting the agenda of unemployment and many more," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

He cited a certificate of incorporation of the UK firm Backops, in which Rahul Gandhi worked as a director, to support his claim.

Citing the document, Surjewala said it's "page four clearly records that Rahul Gandhi is an Indian by birth".

The Congress reaction came in the backdrop of a notice issued by the Union Home Ministry to Gandhi asking him to clarify on his nationality within a fortnight after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy alleged that Gandhi is a British national.

Surjewala took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "manufacturing" one false allegation everyday after having failed on every front and called it a "rehashed" allegation of 2014-15.

The Congress leader said the controversy around Rahul Gandhi's citizenship was a "baseless charge" and part of the Prime Minister's malicious agenda to defame the Congress chief.

He said the BJP raised the issue in 2014 too. The matter then reached the Supreme Court, which rejected the allegations on November 30, 2015.

"Is the MHA now bigger than the Supreme Court? Will the BJP not accept the decision of the Highest Court?... Because the failed Prime Minister has no answer to the country's lack of jobs and widespread farm crisis, he is forced to manufacture an allegation a day.

"After the four phases of elections, it is clear that Modiji and the BJP are hurling towards defeat... Consequently, they seek to manufacture malicious agenda everyday. These are the rehashed allegations of 2014-15. Word to word same allegations were levelled by the same people in 2015. And I had then replied," Surjewala said.

"The truth is that such petty, fallacious and malicious allegations will not divert the agenda."

The Home Ministry in a letter dated April 29 said that Gandhi has declared his nationality as British in an annual return filed by a British company Backops Ltd.

The Ministry sought the Congress President's response over the issue within 14 days. "You are requested to intimate the factual position in the matter to this Ministry within a fortnight of the receipt of this communication," the letter read.

--IANS

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