Don't rake leaders' private life in public: BJP tells Congress

New Delhi: BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's admission that he is married to Jashodaben in his poll affidavit seems to have kicked up a major political storm.

The Congress especially has gone after Mr Modi, criticising him for keeping mum on his marital status so far. Senior BJP leaders including Venkaiah Naidu came to Mr Modi's defense today. "It will cost Congress heavily. Don't get into this, it will boomerang you," said Mr Naidu. "If there's anything wrong in the affidavit then the Commission will look into it, they will take Congress inputs too." (Narendra Modi hid facts about his marriage: Kapil Sibal complains to Election Commission)

The comment came as Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi taunted the BJP, saying that the party talks of women empowerment but refuses to talk about its prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi's wife Jashodaben. "We don't know how many elections he has fought, but for the first time he has written that he is married. In Delhi, they talk about respecting women... but his wife's name never found its way into the affidavit." (Read)

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad also said, "There are several family issues of the Nehru-Gandhi family that we are aware of. Some of it is also recorded in documents...But we will not discuss it in public because we have a standard."

"Modi's elder brother wrote a letter and made it clear that it was a child marriage. He then became a Sangh Pracharak... When the elder brother has clarified on the issue, why is the Congress raking up the issue?" (Foreign media on Narendra Modi's surprise admission of marriage)

Mr Modi wrote Jashodaben as the name of his wife in an affidavit while filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha election from Vadodara, Gujarat. He had so far kept quiet on the issue of his marital status.

"They (Congress) would go to any length to stop Modi," said party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman. "I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that he should read the affidavit carefully. Whatever information he (Modi) is giving are all correct information and he has never lied on this." she added.