BJP questions Rahul's 'most ridiculous' right to be briefed by intelligence

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Friday took a jibe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that he had information that Muslim youth victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots were being contacted by Pakistani intelligence, and questioned the basis on which the Congress number two was privy to Intelligence Bureau information of the country.

Sinha also called for an enquiry into the 'systematic' issue and punish those who are established guilty for wrongly briefing the Congress Party vice president.

"How is Rahul Gandhi being briefed by the intelligence officers? What right does he have to receive intelligence reports from the Intelligence Bureau? This is most ridiculous," Sinha said.

"If intelligence agencies and intelligence officers are briefing Rahul Gandhi, then it is a very serious systemic issue in our country today. It is a mater that should be enquired into immediately. Those who are guilty of wrongfully briefing him should be punished," he added.

Sinha used the opportunity to deny the communal instigation allegations levelled on his party by Rahul Gandhi, and said the Congress number two was on a spree of making baseless and mischievous statements.

"The allegations he has levelled against the BJP are absolutely spurious, baseless, mischievous and he is just going off the rocker. He is making all kinds of statements, which have no meaning," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, while continuing with his claim that the BJP has been igniting communal fires across the country, Rahul Gandhi revealed at a rally in Indore that 10 to 15 Muslim boys, who lost their families in the recent riots in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, are being contacted by Pakistani intelligence agencies.

"Day before yesterday, a police officer came to my office. He told me that in Muzaffarnagar there are 10 to 15 Muslim boys, who have lost their brothers and sisters in the riots. He told me that people from the Pakistan intelligence agencies are starting to talk to surviving victims of Muzaffarnagar. The police officer told me that he is trying to dissuade the youth," Gandhi said in Indore.

Targetting the BJP, the Congress number two alleged that the opposition party is solely interested in gathering votes, while it is left to the ruling party to cool down the anger that survives in the aftermath of communal violence.

Violence broke out in the Kawal area of Muzaffarnagar on August 27, when members of a community returning from a panchayat meeting in Naglabadhod, three kilometres from Kawal, clashed with members of another community.