Documents show that Rahul Gandhi had called himself "British" on the papers of a UK-based firm "Backops Limited", Subramanian Swamy has alleged. (File photo)
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan urging her to refer the matter of Rahul Gandhi's alleged violation of Constitution and ethical code on citizenship to the Ethics Committee and disqualify him as a Member of Parliament if he is found guilty.
In his letter to Ms Mahajan, the BJP leader said Mr Gandhi, as a Lok Sabha member, has violated the ethics code to be observed by lawmakers, and urged her to seek an explanation from him.
After that if she felt that a case existed, she may refer the matter to the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha to decide whether he can continue as a Member of Parliament, Mr Swamy said, adding that he should be disqualified because he was "guilty of gross violation" of ethics.
Mr Swamy, who had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, had released documents reportedly showing that Mr Gandhi had claimed himself to be a British national before the company law authorities in the United Kingdom for setting up a company. He had demanded that Mr Gandhi be stripped of Indian citizenship and Lok Sabha membership.
The Congress has dismissed this as "entirely false."
"From the day he was born, Rahul Gandhi has held Indian citizenship and Indian passport and has never held citizenship of any other country nor has he represented as such. The allegation by Subramanian Swamy is entirely false", Congress party spokesman Randeep Surjewala had said in a statement on Monday.
Claiming that his documents of Gandhi's purported declaration before British authorities were authentic, Mr Swamy said Rahul Gandhi had failed to disclose in his affidavit as a candidate for Lok Sabha elections in 2009 that he was not a citizen of India or that he had set up a company called 'Backups' in Britain.
Latching on to Mr Swamy's allegation, the BJP demanded that Rahul Gandhi should come clean as the explanation given by Congress was not convincing.
"Any elected Indian leader should give a clarification. We seek an explanation from Mr Rahul Gandhi as these are legal documents and have legal repercussions as well. The statement needs to be made by none other than Rahul Gandhi. He needs to come clean on this," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told reporters.