BJP must apologise for insulting, spreading 'lies' about Mallikarjun Kharge: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress Thursday asked the BJP to apologise for allegedly insulting party president Mallikarjun Kharge by saying he was not allowed to enter the returning officer's room in Wayanad when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was filing her nomination.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were also made to wait briefly outside the returning officer's room as the door was shut, before they were let in.

"This is total lie. You see in yesterday's nomination pictures, Congress president Sonia Gandhiji is sitting behind. Congress president, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are sitting in the front seat. How can they (the BJP) lie?" Venugopal said.

"The BJP must apologise," he added.

Venugopal said it all happened because Priyanka Gandhi reached the office early because of the timing of nomination filing, and the rest came a little later.

"The Congress president told her to go there immediately because of the timing. She believes in timing and she reached there.

"Therefore when the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi reached the Collectorate, at that point of time Priyanka ji was inside the room. We knocked on the door so many times. The door was not opened for Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I also waited," he told reporters.

"After that Congress president came and had to wait. The Congress president was there for the nomination filing and that is how he is seen in the photos," he said.

Venugopal alleged that the BJP often insults Kharge by spreading falsehood. "This is what happened yesterday."

Earlier, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia at a press conference accused the Gandhi family of "insulting" Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, by not allowing him to accompany Priyanka Gandhi to the returning officer's office.

Priyanka is contesting from Wayanad, the seat won by her brother Rahul, who later vacated it as per rules since also won from Raebareli.