Congress leaders have had illicit relationships: Arun Jaitley

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the personal lives of people should not dominate political discourse, and if the Congress Party is going to break with this tradition, other parties might also say that there are many people in the Congress who have had illicit relationships.

"I do not understand how disclosing a legal relationship is wrong in any way. Narendra Modi has done the right thing the right way. There are many people in illicit relationships in Rahul Gandhi's party. If people have the right to know this, then, they also have the right to know things which are not yet disclosed," said Jaitley.

"There is the political ethics that women and personal life of people are never brought in politics. It has never been made an issue in our country. Because the Congress party is on the verge of defeat and it has no other topic to bring up, it has taken up the marital status of Narendra Modi as an issue," he said.

"He has stooped down low by bringing up the marital status of Modi. So, if Rahul Gandhi has stooped down so low, then he should tell about his own party leaders," he added.

Gandhi in a rally in Doda said on Thursday that the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) was raising hollow slogans about protecting the dignity of women and encouraging their empowerment, but why was its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, hesitating till now in taking the name of his wife Jashodaben.

While filing a poll affidavit on Wednesday in Vadodara in Gujarat, Modi has for the first time acknowledged that he is married to Jashodaben, a retired school teacher, from whom he had separated decades ago.

Modi wrote the name Jashodaben in the column titled spouse. He had kept it blank during previous successive state elections that he had fought in the past.