Congress threatening institutions: Naqvi on Rahul's NITI Aayog remarks

Slamming Rahul Gandhi for his remarks that the Congress, if voted to power, would scrap the NITI Aayog, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi alleged on Saturday that the opposition party was "threatening and defaming" constitutional institutions.

The Union Minority Affairs Minister's remarks came a day after Congress president Gandhi said his party would replace NITI Aayog with a "lean" Planning Commission.

The "shehzada" is speaking under the influence of his "arrogance of feudal mentality", Naqvi said in an apparent reference to Gandhi.

When the Congress was in power, "the anarchy and arrogance of the feudal family" was at its peak in "criminal misuse" of constitutional institutions and now in the Opposition, they are "threatening and defaming" these constitutional institutions, he alleged.

For the past five years, the Congress has tried to threaten and defame various constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission, the Central Vigilance Commission and now the NITI Aayog, he told reporters.

The "shehzada and shehzadi, when out power, are behaving like a fish out of water, he claimed.

"They think that power is their birthright, but the people of the country will teach them a lesson in the Lok Sabha elections," Naqvi said.

The Planning Commission, set up in 1950 under the Congress government, was replaced by the Niti Aayog by the Modi dispensation. The Congress is seeking to revert to the original structure of the government think tank.