The Congress on Monday said that the BJP is so much rattled by the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and that it is desperately trying to derail it and defame Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress also cited several instances of BJP's "fake claims" made with an attempt to defame Gandhi and his Yatra, and demanded that the ruling party should apologise.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that the BJP was sending Intelligence Bureau sleuths to the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite and was "terrorising" those who met Gandhi during the Yatra.
He alleged that IB sleuths are tracking the social activists, ex-servicemen, and leaders of farmers' organisations who met Rahul Gandhi during the Yatra.
Ramesh said the party had filed a complaint against IB personnel who were caught entering the Congress' Yatra campsite with Sohna police, after their replies were found unsatisfactory.
He alleged that on the morning of December 23, some unauthorised people had trespassed one of our containers and were caught coming out of it.
"The BJP is misusing the government agencies," he told reporters, alleging that Haryana's "double-engine" BJP government would not do anything till there were orders from Delhi.
Ramesh alleged that the Congress has received notices from the Election Commission and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, while the Prime Minister goes to Gujarat and has children campaign for him and his party, but the election Commission never even takes any notice.
"These are double standards by the EC," he said, as he stressed there is no secrecy in the Bharat Jodo Yatra and everything is transparent.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate too accused the BJP of trying to spread disinformation and defame the Yatra and Rahul Gandhi.
She said BJP leaders have been claiming that Gandhi will go on a holiday abroad, but that is not true.
The former Congress chief even in biting cold went and paid tributes to former prime ministers who have contributed to the nation's development, she said.
"I fully agree with Rahul ji that the BJP is attempting to destroy his image, but they cannot do it properly and get caught. Modi ji has put the entire troll army against the Congress to defame it, but they will not be successful in their attempts," she said.
"The BJP is troubled by the enormous success the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are getting through the Yatra as people from all walks of life are joining him and meeting him. I would say that PM Modi should also join the Yatra when he sees it, and understand the love and affection spread through it," she said.
"For Rahul Gandhi, the Yatra is like a 'tapasya' (devotion) as he wants to take everyone along," Shrinate said.
Ramesh said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra had started with 120 'Bharat Yatris,' a number that has risen to 150 and will touch 200 by the end of the Yatra, when they would have walked a distance of 3,570 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
