Modi goofup: Congress says BJP trying to invent new ancestry

NEW DELHI: Criticising Narendra Modi for incorrectly saying that Jana Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mookerjee had died abroad, Congress today said BJP was trying to "invent" new ancestry.

"History of Jana Sangh by Narendra ji Modi- Shyama Prasad Mookerjee died in London in 1930. Poor Mookerjee Sahib must be turning in his grave!" Union Minister Manish Tewari said in a post on social networking site Twitter, taking a swipe at the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate.

In another tweet, he said it is "Intriguing - The past months BJP has been trying to deny parentage and invent a new ancestry. Are the ghosts of their past haunting them?"

Modi had said while addressing a gathering in Gujarat's Kheda district that Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was a revolutionary who had died abroad but Congress never bothered to bring back his ashes.

Mookerjee had actually passed away in the country, and as per some reports, the Gujarat Chief Minister may have intended to refer to another nationalist Shyamji Krishna Verma.