Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Madhya Pradesh warned of action against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her social media post, in which she accused the government in the state of indulging in corruption.
Terming her allegation as false, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra sought proof from the Congress leader to support her charge, warning that options were otherwise open before the state government and the BJP for action.
State BJP chief V D Sharma warned of legal action against the Congress leader, accusing her of citing a fake letter in her social media post to level the allegation.
The state Congress, however, said it would prove that the BJP-led government is corrupt and also accused the ruling party of creating "political terror".
Priyanka Gandhi claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, yesterday that a union of contractors from Madhya Pradesh has written a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court, complaining that they receive payment only after paying 50% commission.
"The corrupt BJP government in Karnataka used to collect 40% commission. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP has gone ahead by breaking its own record of corruption. People of Karnataka ousted the 40% commission government, now the people of Madhya Pradesh will remove the 50% commission government from power," she alleged in the post.
Responding to her allegation, Mr Mishra said that in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress was playing politics "with a disgusting mentality" without any issue.
"State Congress leaders first got Rahul Gandhi to lie and now got Priyanka Gandhi to make a false tweet. Priyanka ji, give proof of your tweets, otherwise we have all options open for action," the minister warned.
He said that Priyanka Gandhi should reveal the name of the person or contractor who wrote the letter to the high court chief justice that she mentioned in her social media post.
Talking to reporters, state BJP chief Sharma accused the Congress of being power-hungry and desperate to be at the helm by peddling lies.
"This is a conspiracy and BJP will take action for this tweet under cyber crime...She will have to state where she got this letter. You (Priyanka Gandhi) misled not only Madhya Pradesh, but the country on the basis of a fake letter," he said.
"Congress leadership will have to give an answer on this. We will take legal action in this regard," he added.
K K Mishra, Madhya Pradesh Congress media department's chairman, said his party would prove that the BJP government is corrupt.
"The BJP should accept the reality, but the ruling party has been creating political terror...It is adopting unconstitutional means. We will prove that the government is corrupt," he said.
Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are due in November this year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
