New Delhi/UNI: The Congress on Tuesday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its spokesperson Sambit Patra’s remark on former party president Rahul Gandhi, who he has called ‘’Mir Jafar’’.

“It is a pity to see the spokespersons of the BJP come up early in the morning without getting ready, without being equipped with facts. Normally, the BJP spokespersons have a pattern of behavior,” said Congress’ chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera in an apparent reference to Patra’s press conference.

In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Khera said, “Shah and the Shahenshah are both worried about how to protect their friend, Gautam Adani. So, in order to protect Adani, they will try and deflect and distract the country's attention, the media’s attention and everybody's attention to some non-issues.”

“We all know why these theatrics, why this rhetoric is happening today, because ‘the Shah and the Shahenshah’ are scared of the word ‘Adani’. They are afraid of Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a JPC. They are afraid of the Opposition’s demand for a JPC.

"So much so that, when Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress president) speaks in the House, his remarks are expunged, Rahul Gandhi’s remarks are expunged, because those remarks carry the name ‘Gautam Adani’. So, these are the issues that they are afraid of. These are the reasons why they are trying to distract our attention,” he added.

The opposition has been demanding a JPC probe into the Hindenburg Research report over the Adani Group.

The Hindenburg Research report alleged that Adani Group had engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud schemes over the course of decades.

Earlier this morning, Patra while addressing a press conference said, “Just like Mir Jafar took help from the East India Company to become Nawab, Rahul Gandhi is seeking help from foreign nations as part of his shameful agenda. It would not be an aberration to say that Rahul Gandhi is a present-day ‘Mir Jafar of the Indian polity….This present day’s Mir Jafar must apologise.”

The ruling dispensation has been demanding an apology from the Wayanad MP over his recent remarks on 'democracy' in the UK.