Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he attacked Congress’ PM candidate Rahul Gandhi. While addressing a gathering at a rally in Uttar Pradesh, Modi had said, "Your father was termed Mr clean by his courtiers, but his life ended as Bhrashtachari number 1”.

Reacting to PM Modi’s comment, Kumaraswamy posted a tweet which said, "Modi's comments against Rajiv are not only despicable and condemnable, but also reflect his state of mind.” He also added to his comment by stating that fear and frustration had impaired Modi's judgement.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary and state party in-charge KC Venugopal also expressed his displeasure at Modi's attack on Rajiv Gandhi and posted a tweet stating, "PM is desperately trying to spread untruths about one of the most respectable political figures India ever had due to frustration and fear for losing election.”

However, speaking to MyNation, Karnataka BJP MLA, CN Ashwath Narayan demolished these claims from the coalition government and said, “We are trying to clean up the system, and are trying to communicate to the people by showing them that corruption is inexcusable and that offenders must pay the price for their actions. Rajiv Gandhi lost a particular election because of corruption. The VP Singh government came into power because of corruption and allegations against Rajiv Gandhi.”

The fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh will have 14 constituencies out of 80 go to polls. The constituencies going to polls in phase 5 are Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj, and Gonda.

The Lok Sabha election results are scheduled to be announced on May 23, 2019.