Jharsuguda (Odisha): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not born in the OBC category and has been lying about his caste.

Launching a fresh salvo against the prime minister ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi claimed that Modi was born in the General category and not the Other Backward Category (OBC).

"PM Modi was not born in the OBC category. He was born in the Teli caste in Gujarat," Rahul Gandhi said in Odisha's Jharsuguda during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

He claimed that the community was classified as OBC in 2000 by the BJP. He alleged that he was born into the general caste.

He asserted that PM Modi would never allow a caste census in his life as he was not born in the OBC category.

The BJP has rejected the Congress leaders' allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got his caste notified as an OBC after he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

BJP's IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya hit out at Rahul Gandhi accusig him of speaking "a blatant lie".

"PM Narendra Modi's caste was notified as an OBC on Oct 27, 1999, a full 2 years BEFORE he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat," he wrote in a post on X.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter Chhattisgarh from Odisha on Thursday.

It resumed after a break of two weeks and will pass through Raigarh, Sakti and Korba districts on February 11.

This will be Gandhi’s first visit to Chhattisgarh after Congress was unseated in the November 2023 Assembly elections.

The yatra will move to Jharkhand from Balrampur on November 14.