New Delhi:
Rahul Gandhi, the Vice President of the Congress, wants another week to respond to charges that he tried to incite communal hatred through speeches that he delivered in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh last month.
The allegations against the 43-year-old have been leveled by the BJP, which registered a complaint against Mr Gandhi with the Election Commission. Mr Gandhi had been asked to send his reply by today.
His office has asked for an extension of the deadline, claiming that it needs more time to draft its response because the young politician was busy with the festival season.
In a string of speeches last month, Mr Gandhi accused the BJP of "lighting a fire" of divisive politics. As an example, he cited September's riots in Muzaffarnagar in Western Uttar Pradesh in which nearly 60 people were killed. Mr Gandhi said the BJP instigates communal tension and it falls upon his party, the Congress, "to douse the fire."
The Number 2 in the Congress - his mother, Sonia, is party chief- also patented another controversy when he claimed that an intelligence officer had disclosed that Pakistani agencies, including the country's powerful ISI, were in touch with young Muslim men whose relatives had died in the riots in Muzaffarnagar, allegedly to lure them into working against India. Muslim leaders said Mr Gandhi appeared to be questioning the loyalty of Indian Muslims; the opposition demanded an explanation for why intelligence officers were briefing Mr Gandhi, who is a parliamentarian but holds no post in the government.
The BJP says Mr Gandhi 's speeches seek to vitiate communal harmony and violate the model code of conduct which is in effect now in five states that will vote soon including Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.