Congress dragging my parents into politics at Rahul's behest: Modi

Calling the Congress a "burden on the nation", he also justified his own tirade against the Nehru-Gandhi family, pointing out that unlike his parents, they occupied top positions in politics and the government.

Congress leaders have kicked up a controversy recently by first comparing the falling value of the rupee to the advanced age of Modi's mother and then claiming that the father of the prime minister was not someone illustrious.

"What has happened to the Congress party? The 'naamdar' (dynast, referring to Rahul Gandhi) is tacitly supporting it and therefore, its leaders are dragging the name of my father, who passed away 30 years ago," Modi said, addressing a rally here in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

"The Congress is running out of steam in this election, so they have started dragging my parents into politics.

"No Congressman would make such a statement against me or my family without the consent of the party president. It is the 'naamdar' who is making his leaders speak against me," he added.

"My mother sits in her house, performing religious rites, confining herself to a room, and has never visited Madhya Pradesh. She does not even know the 'R' of 'rajneeti' (politics)," Modi said.

"Yesterday, they took the name of my mother and now my father. The Congress chief is behind this...," he alleged.

"Hundred generations of my family have no links with politics. We lived in a small village....lived like the poor.

"And the naamdar says, Modiji is also speaking against my family'," the prime minister said.

"Naamdar, I do not talk about your family members. I talk about former prime ministers, former Congress leaders. I speak against former Congress leaders, seeking an account of their work.

"Yes, I have to take their names as they were in politics, unlike my family members, who sit quietly in their home and do their job," he added.

"You throw questions at Modi, (then) just as Modi is accountable, your family too is answerable," the prime minister said.

The opposition party was left with no issues and was, therefore, indulging in this kind of abusive rhetoric, he added.

The previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had introduced a crop loan waiver scheme in 2008, but of the Rs 6-lakh crore agricultural debt, loans of only Rs 60,000 crore were waived, Modi claimed.

Former Union minister Vilas Muttemwar made a controversial statement at a Congress meeting in Rajasthan Saturday, saying nobody knew "the name of your (Modi's) father but everyone knows the name of Rahul Gandhi's father".

Before that, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar had compared the falling value of the rupee to the advanced age of Modi's mother.

At Vidisha, Modi also mentioned his cabinet colleague and local MP Sushma Swaraj, lauding her for ensuring the development of the constituency, despite facing health issues.

Speaking at a rally in Jabalpur later, he alleged that of the last 15 years under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, "10 years were lost because the government of Madam (UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi) put hurdles in the way of development".