You can't separate party and leadership, Congress tells Modi

The Congress on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking potshots at the party leadership, saying the "Gandhi family" was an integral part of the Congress and Modi cannot separate the party and its leadership.

"We want to tell the prime minister one thing categorically that when he talks of our leadership or the family, we are proud of that and they are integral to the Congress party. You cannot separate the Indian National Congress and its leadership," Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters here.

"And, if you try to do so, we will be giving a befitting reply to the best of our ability and the prime minister and the BJP must never be in doubt about that," he added.

Modi on Friday said in Assam's Dibrugarh district that while the Opposition wanted parliament to function, one family holding a grudge for its electoral defeat was not allowing the Rajya Sabha to function.

Sharma also said provoking the Opposition and seeking cooperation cannot go together at the same time.

"He (Modi) is the prime minister of the country. He should not provoke and insult the principal opposition party and then they say that he seeks cooperation. It is a funny way of seeking cooperation by attacking the leadership of the Congress," he said.