Sardar Patel described RSS as a poisonous outfit: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Thursday slammed the BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), saying even Sardar Patel described "it as a poisonous outfit that can destroy the nation".

"Sardar Patel-ji ne kaha tha ki RSS ek zehreela sangathan hai (Sardar Patel has said the RSS is poisonous outfit) and can destroy the nation," Gandhi said while addressing his first public rally in Dharamsala town, some 250 km from state capital Shimla.

Clad in white long 'kurta' with jeans and donning a Himachali cap with green flap, he said, "the opposition in a similar fashion is trying to appropriate Sardar Patel's legacy".

Gandhi said, "the BJP's tallest leaders in parliament had said India would be destroyed due to computers, but I won't name them".

He also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over claims of development, saying its leaders were taking false credit.

Of the four parliamentary seats in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP won Shimla, Kangra and Hamirpur, the Congress bagged Mandi during the 2009 general elections.

The hill state goes to the polls May 7.