New Delhi: Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often donated his personal savings to public causes, the BJP Tuesday said he has always believed in the principle of "simple living, high ideals", as the saffron party slammed the Congress for accusing that he had given "wrong information" about a plot he owned in Gandhinagar.
The BJP said the Congress has levelled false allegations regarding Modi's property and counter-accused the Gandhi family of having acquired a lot of assets over years with little-known sources.
The Congress has in the past dismissed the BJP's charge of financial irregularities against the Gandhi family as false and has also termed action by probe agencies as political vendetta.
At a press conference, the Congress alleged on Tuesday Modi had declared in an election affidavit in 2007 that he was the sole owner of Plot 411 in Sector 1 of Gandhinagar, but omitted that information in his election affidavits afterwards and gave details of another piece of land.
"In the light of discrepancies in the affidavit, the Congress party demands that the Election Commission of India takes thorough cognisance of the seemingly deliberate omissions in Modi's affidavit and take appropriate action under the Representation of People Act," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
Putting up a strong defence of Modi, the ruling party said his life is an example of believing in "simple living and high ideals".
The BJP said Modi recently donated Rs 21 lakh from his personal savings to the welfare fund of sanitary employees during the 'Kumbh Mela'.
In 2014, Modi had donated a similar amount of money from his savings for the education of daughters of Gujarat government employees after he quit as the state's chief minister to take up the prime minister's post, it said.
The BJP said that the prime minister had donated USD 200,000, which he received on being conferred with Seoul Peace Prize, to "Namami Gange" project, aimed at cleaning the river.
He had also donated Rs 11.73 crore after auctioning various gifts he had received as prime minister, the BJP said.
Refuting the Congress allegation regarding the Gandhinagar plot, the BJP said four plots purchased by four different persons, including Modi, were amalgamated into one on April 25, 2008 and added that it is obvious that the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers.
"The caravan of falsehood moves on. There is a bankruptcy of issues in the Congress," it said.
A similar charge is made against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the BJP noted, saying, "there is a limit to trivialisation". Jaitley owned one of the four plots merged later.
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